


Mercka Squad

by Leenden



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fallout inspired, dungeons and dragons inspired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-05-29 23:00:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15083603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leenden/pseuds/Leenden
Summary: After the battle of three nations, seventy percent of the world was covered in a toxic magical radiation that’s killed everything that touched it. From the radiation spawned Creepers, violent and horrendous monstrosities, constantly hungering but never sated.Those who survived the blast are forced to scavenge and carve out a living in the wasteland. Food and water are scarce, and garbage is treasure. That’s where the Mercka Squad comes in, an elite tactical group of mercenary…kobolds? That can’t be right?





	1. All the Slithers isn't Gold...or Something Like That

“You know, they say war, war never changes. They must be right because this place, here, is a shithole.”

“The Centernal year is 36 AD…that’s After Destruction, thanks to the ever lovin’ fey High Elves and their inability to control their unending superiority over every living creature in the realm.”

“RUBY!”

“Sorry, sometimes I get carried away.”

“We know, dear, trust us we know. Maybe instead of telling them, perhaps we can show them in a beautiful and cinematic opus.”

“I think not Amethyst.”

“Both of you hush, now.”

 ***

…Latherimy stood atop the mass of corpses that lay at his feet. His frail elven legs barely held his disheveled figure aloft. The air was chocked with green gas that threatened to suffocate him but he clung to the last shred of life he had left. What would his people think of him, if he were the first of the Three Kingdom’s rulers to die? No, if he were deemed to die, he would be the last.

Gristleback leaned onto her hammer; the crisp skin that ran up her side had long since bubbled and scabbed over. It stung and burned like the very fires of the Underfall but she refused to falter. No, she would carry the weight of her oppressed people to the very halls of her two rivals, if she must. They will take note that Orcs, no, that her people had every right to grow and flourish as theirs does.

Auturo fell to one knee, the arrow imbedded there threatened to end his adventuring days forever but not his days to rule in the sun. Latherimy would kneel to the fire that all humans possess in their souls. He would teach the pointed-ear bastard that being an “infantile” race didn’t mean they couldn’t learn, couldn’t develop, and couldn’t unite the land under the banner of peace for the greater good. And Aurturo swore to kill anyone who didn’t agree to join the alliance. Yes, that would show them.

 ***

 “Does anyone want anything; I’m going into the kitchen.”

“Citrine! Can’t you see I’m telling a story here?”

“Sorry Sapphire; I was trying to be helpful.”

“Don’t mind her; she’s got her knickers in a twist.”

“Thank you, Amethyst, that’s really-”

“I could use more pork rinds.”

“Sure thing, sweetie, I’ll be right back.”

“Would you mind if I continued the story?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Citrine?”

“Nah, she’s heard it before. Go on, before out reader gets bored.”

***

…Right. The three lords stood on a battlefield that had long since been carpeted with the remains of their clan’s members, their friends, and their people. It didn’t matter now, the three lords were balls-deep into this war and it would be determined now.

Aurturo hefted his sword and swung but the elf was nimble enough to move but not nimble enough to keep from collapsing under the weight of the green miasma. Gristleback stumbled forth, lifting her hammer with the last of her strength; her last swing would finish the point-eared bastard for sure.

But Latherimy would not be undone; he cast his hands to sky and muttered words of the ancient and all the sound left the world. The birds flew away, the fire stalled its crackle, and even the wind itself shut the fuck up.

“I may die here,” He uttered, his voice muted to the soft whistle that came from worlds away. “But I will take you and all of this to hell with me when I go.”

“You fool, what are you doing?” Gristleback dropped her hammer and reached for him.

“Meeeh, you fool, what are you doing, shut up, I’m winning, duh!” Latherimy’s voice spiked a sour tone but it faltered next to the whistle that grew louder.

“You may be a prick.” Arturo stepped forward and rammed his sword through the elf’s middle. “But you know what; I’ve got a bigger one for you.”

“Ugh, men and their inbred need for a pissing contest, even at the end of things. Let this be done.” Her hammer crunched down on the elf’s head, splatting his brains all over the place.

The human looked at the Orc and smiled. “You know, I never disliked you.”

“Liar,” She said, splatting him for good measure.

Now the orc female was all alone and there was no one to splat her. So, she looked up at the sky to the glowing green fireball that was falling faster than a shooting star and with it came death, the four horseman, and maybe even their mothers, who knows, but they were all there.

“Bring it on, you pussies.” Gristleback sneered in triumph seconds before it hit.

***

 “The toadstool cloud could be seen from miles around. A radiated shockwave rolled through the countryside, obliterating everything in its path and man, did it suck.” The sleek blue kobold said from her perch on the rickety looking couch. “Farms destroyed, kingdoms fell, and almost everyone died.”

“You know, this story gets more bitchin’ each time you tell it.” A ruby-red kobold snickered as she knocked back a glowing green bottle of Mountain Dew.

“It’s not a story, Ruby,” A shimmering purple kobold snapped at her, dumping her popcorn on the mesh metal floor. “This is real history, right Sap?”

“Sapphire, thank you very much. And yes, these are annuals of our histories from over tens of thousands of years.” The blue kobold scrolled down on the glowing tablet in her hand.

“More like bullshit with a side of crap, if you ask me.” Ruby snarked and grabbed a handful of popcorn from the floor.

“How else do you explain the radiation swamps that cover seventy percent of the world?” Sapphire adjusted the pinched lenses on her snout.

“Bad luck!”

The purple kobold snickered at Ruby’s response.

“Glad you find the death of millions funny, Amethyst.”

“Meh, life is sacred, nah nah, didn’t you just shoot a douche bag in the face the other day, Sap?” The red kobold chuckled.

“The bastard had it coming.” She said pointedly as she plucked her glasses from her muzzle, folding them neatly before slipping them into their leather pouch.

“Amethyst, I brought your another soda!” A shimmering yellow kobold walked into the room, passing a bottle of glowing green liquid to the heavy-set kobold stretched out on the couch.

“Thanks, Citrine but…I don’t drink this stuff.”

 The yellow kobold touched her chin, her eyes glazing over.

“It was me, genius. I asked for pork rinds.” Ruby snapped.

“Oh right, be right back.” The yellow kobold started down the stairs again.

“I swear to god…goddess…or Steven Spielberg that she’s a dumb as a box of rocks.” Ruby glared at Sapphire.

“Ruby, you stop that right now. She can’t help it!”

“I personally think she’s getting better.” Amethyst passed the soda to Ruby. “Drink up and smile, for a change.”

“Fat chance and judging by your waistline, you know a lot about those types of chances.”

“Sapphire, I brought this back for you.” Citrine climbed back up the stairs with nothing in her hands.

“Dear,” Sapphire pinched the bridge of her muzzle. “I didn’t ask for any-”

Behind her came a tall scrawny looking elf dressed in a tattered navy-blue parka. Her camo pants were tore so badly that her long johns could be seen underneath. She had a modified AK-47 strapped to her back. Her belt lined with various tools, traps, and a broad bladed sword. It was more a homemade machete that bore and intricate hilt of her people. She pulled her goggles up to rest on her tattered, flannel cabby hat.

“Mercka Squad?” The elf’s thick cockney accent fell out of her mouth like someone dumping out a sack of potatoes.

“Yes!” Sapphire stood up from seat and straightened her freshly pressed BDU’s.

“Thank the goddess I found you.” She rushed forward.

Ruby was off the couch in a second pressing the tip of her combat knife to the elf’s side. It was so large in her hand that it could double as a sword but she wielded it better than most humans, orcs, or elves.

“That’s far enough, forest fart.”

“I mean you no harm.” The elf raised her hands; in one she carried a yellow index card.

“Don’t mind her, she’s more than a little demented.” Amethyst got up and snatched the index card away, handing it to Sapphire.

“I come on behalf of Druger-Ox; he has a mission for you.” The elf was quick to explain her presence.

“An elf working for an Orc, that’s a laugh.” The red kobold snickered as she sheathed her knife again.

“It’s an important matter…involving stolen secrets, hmm.” Sapphire read the card to herself but commented aloud.

“That’s right, a thief took it and ran into subway system, we can’t follow.” The elf stated.

“What kind of idiot-”

“A kobold like yourself, ma’am.” The elf snapped.

“Fuck off! You must by high.” Ruby cackled. “Everyone knows most kobolds hid underground only to be buried amidst the remnants of your ancestor’s past fuck ups.”

“Amethyst, if you’d please.” Sapphire snapped.

The pudgy purple kobold slid across the metal floor on her belly, coming up beside Ruby fast enough to catch her off guard. She closed her hands around the kobold’s mouth and wrest her to the couch where she wrapped her legs around the feistier female’s waist.

“I apologize for my companion; she’s a bit of bitch.” Sapphire tucked the card away. “A kobold, huh? That’s interesting. And how much is Mr. Ox-Orc willing to pay?”

“Druger-Ox, ma’am,” The elf slapped the yellow kobold’s hand away as she was caressing the elf’s hip. “One hundred, ma’am,”

“One hundred?  Is this some kind of a joke to you?” Sapphire’s crystal blue eyes narrowed.

“I could go as high as one hundred fifty.” The elf reached into her pocket and pulled out a credit card.

“One hundred and fifty,” Amethyst grunted, still wrestling the other female on the couch. “That’s like a spit in the face!”

“I-I…I can give you half right now, seventy-five thousand.”

“Well, I suppose...wait…what was that again?” Sapphire stopped in mid thought.

“I can give you eighty thousand, right now, just please take this case. Mercka Squad is the only ones who can go into the places we can’t and we really need you to do this.” The elf was almost pleading now.

“I suppose so.” The blue kobold feigned her surrender. “Stolen documents sounds very important and all. I suppose it’s almost like our civil duty…our paid handsomely, civil duty. Tell Mr. Orc-Ox we’ll accept his standard offer and will report to you in two weeks to a month on our progress. Please give me your contact info and the payment.”

“Oh, thank you so much for this. All the information you need is on the card. _Druger_ -Ox wants to be perfectly clear, you can contact me anytime, day or night, just please find those documents and…bring the kobold back alive.” The elf sighed, her body growing limp with her relief.

The elf punched a few buttons built onto the face of the card and passed it to Sapphire. “I’ve cleared you for eighty thousand credits; the rest will be released to you upon completion of the task.”

“Yes, yes, you have our word that we will return the documents and the prisoner ASAP.” Sapphire shook the elf’s hand nonchalantly. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to prepare for our manhunt.”

Citrine blinked and looked at Amethyst. “I thought we were hunting a kobold?”

“Not now.”

The elf looked from the yellow kobold to the Sapphire with a look of worry. Sapphire fought to reassure her with a smile before patting the elf’s bicep.

“She’s just confused.”

“Certainly,” The elf nodded and pointed back down the stairs. “This way, right?”

“Yes, it’s the door that says ‘exit’, you can’t miss it.” Sapphire was struggling to compose herself under the weight of the loaded credit card.

The elf disappeared down the stairway as Citrine walked up to Sapphire. “Can you believe she’s stupid enough to pay us that much money?”

“What was that?” The elf popped her head back up.

Sapphire’s eyes shot open as she glared at the yellow kobold, her mouth hanging open. “Oh, I…It was…”

“I said, ‘can you believe she’s s-”

Sapphire wrapped her tail tightly around the yellow kobold’s throat and pulled her clean off her feet and to the floor, choking the words out of her.

“Don’t mind her!” Sapphire’s voice spiked in a very unbecoming way, her blue face growing purple amidst the frustrated blush. “She stupid…head wound as a child, we keep her around because she’s like family. We can’t find a home to take her in.”

Both Ruby and Amethyst looked up at her with their mouths hanging open in shock at the sudden rant.

“Oh,” The elf said, a little more put off now that she witnessed the emotion slaughter delivered to the yellow kobold. “Carry…uhm, carry on then.”

Again she disappeared through the hole. This time, they waited until they could hear the slam and lock of their metal front door before they did anything.

When they were sure she was gone, Sapphire released Citrine from her chokehold, relieved to hear her gasp for air.

“Why did you say all those awful things?” Citrine cried, wiping the tears running down her cheeks.

“Oh for the love of James Camron, I didn’t mean it, I was trying to get the stinky elf to leave. Come on, stop crying. I’ll buy you a stuffed puppy.” Sapphire fell to her knees, coddling the kobold. “You know I love you, don’t you?”

Citrine sniffled and nodded. “Ye-yes.”

“And you know I would only act that way to save your life, right?”

Citrine paused, her eyes rolling to the side as she thought. “I suppose so, though I don’t really know how that works.”

“She’s saying that if you’d fucked this deal up for us, she was going to skin you and make a pair of boots and a matching belt out of your hide.” Ruby snickered.

“Right.” Sapphire nodded.

“Oh, well then I’m glad you did it.” Citrine smiled widely, her tail bounced off the metal floor happily.

“Thank god.” Sapphire sighed and slid the card through the reader built into the side of her tablet, depositing the first half into their account.

“Sappy, you know how you said you’ll get me a stuffed puppy?”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” Sapphire looked down at the yellow kobold who was chewing one claw.

“Can it be a kitty instead? I like cats more than dogs.” Citrine wiped her wet finger on Sapphire’s pant leg before getting to her feet.

“After this is over, Citrine, I’ll buy you a roomful of stuffed kitties.” Sapphire smiled at her, before giving her cheek a soft pat.

“Really?”

“That’s right.” Sapphire slipped her tablet into the pocket of her canvas bag. “Now ladies, gather your gear, we have a thieving degenerate to find. We roll out in ten.”

“Aye, captain,” Amethyst saluted and hurried off into one of the rooms off of the main chamber.

Ruby reached behind the couch grabbing her hastily stuffed backpack. “Ready,” She forced everything back into their respective pockets before zipping, clasping, and latching them away safely.

“Ruby?” Citrine whispered.

“Whut?” Ruby pulled a cigarette from the pack sitting on the three-legged end table next to the couch.

“If she used my butt to make your hide boots out of…would they be called booties?”

Ruby laughed so hard she choked on the first drag from the cigarette. “What the fuck, that was so funny, even for you.”

Citrine wrapped her arms around the taller Kobold and kissed her cheek. “See, there’s a reason you keep me around.”

“I suppose so.” Ruby smiled and ruffled her golden head feathers. “Come on, let’s get you all packed.”

Sapphire watched as the pair left the room through the same door Amethyst had hurried through.

“Heh…booties, that is pretty funny.”

Sapphire shook her head, and picked up the well-polished Peacemaker from the bookshelf, still holstered on its bandolier. She was quick to wrap the belted bandolier around her waist, buckling it and tying it off around her thigh. The weapon was heavy in her hand but she managed to spin it a few times before slipping it back into the holster, just as her husband, David, had shone her once upon a time.

The blue kobold kissed her fingertips and touched the faded printer picture of a human with red hair and a dark handlebar mustache. The picture was taken a long time ago but the memory was always fresh. She was too short to be seen in the picture when she first put it in the frame. She always joked with her husband that she managed to get the best part centered anyway. They’d laughed about it but David always promised to bring her a new one as soon as he found it. He never did, thus she never felt it needed changing.

“Here I go again, David. Doing good, just like you taught me.” Her words were a whisper just in case the others were within ear shot.

She lingered her gaze a moment longer before turning to face the door. “Come on, ladies, daylight’s burning.”

“Of course it is; we live in a nuclear winter.” Amethyst spoke around the fingerless glove clenched in her teeth.

“I think it’s more of a nuclear summer.” Citrine mused.

“I prefer nuclear autumn myself. The way the leaves glow as they drift through the breeze to inevitably burst into flames and fall to the ground as ash has always reminded me of how fucked up life is now.” Ruby cackled as she snuffed her cigarette out on the wall before dropping the butt on the floor.

“Come on you misfits, let’s tuck tail and run.” Sapphire gave each of them a brief look over as they walked past.

They were misfits from horn to tail, she thought, a smile coming to her lips, but they were her misfits and she loved each of them very much.


	2. Old Wounds

Amethyst double checked the harness straps across her chest and belly, making sure they were tight enough without being too tight. She just spent a great deal of creds to get it adjusted to fit her smaller frame and she’d not had time to try it out beforehand.

The purple kobold picked up her freshly packed magazine and slapped it into the well-worn Glock. It looked large in her hand but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She slid it home into the holster under her arm.

“Why does she do this to herself?”

Ruby shifted her cigarette to the corner of her mouth with her tongue as she dragged her steel along the blade of her combat knife.

“She’s got self-inflicted demons keeping her on the cross. No one can make her climb down, that’s something she’ll have to do on her own.” Ruby said snidely.

“It’s sad.” Citrine took the cigarette from Ruby, taking a drag from it before putting it back.

Amethyst watched the yellow kobold tightening the laces up the side of one of her legs, pulling the camo fabric tighter. The she slipped her foot into a toeless boot, tying it as tightly as she could.

“Hey, Tubs, take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

There was a swirling jealousy in Ruby’s eyes that only ever reared its head when Citrine was involved.

“Sorry,” Amethyst snapped and rolled her eyes towards the greenish sky.

It was the residual radiation glow from outside the safe zone. It had long since chased away the blue tint. Sometimes when the sun managed to break through the cloud layer, they’d be treated to a hint of blue but it never lasts.

Amethyst checked the two knives sheathed at her hips, making sure they were snapped in tight.

“How long’s she been in there?” Amethyst asked

 Ruby tumbled the combat knife around in her hand before sheathing it at her back.

“Two minutes.” She said.

 “God, it feels like she’s been in there forever, here.” Amethyst replied grimly.

She picked up the machete leaning against the oil barrel she sat on and held it out to Citrine.

The yellow kobold reached up to her shoulder, her face twisting in confusion. A shy smirk rippled up her narrow muzzle.

“Oh, that’s right, I set it down.”

She took the sheath and pulled it over her head so the strap rested across her chest. Ruby pulled the strap tighter beneath her ribs, so it wouldn’t bounce about as much.

“Thank you.” Citrine whispered, even though it was aimed at Ruby, it was meant for both.

Ruby caressed her fingers along Citrine’s feathered head and leaned in for a kiss. The lithe kobold giggled with a girlish glee before her sounds were cut off by the lewd smacks of an exaggerated kiss. Amethyst watched them, her own jealousy starting to boil up inside of her.

She turned her attention back to the large building Sapphire had gone into. It was nothing more than hastily constructed corrugated steel sheets and plywood that held it together but that was pretty much any shack in the whole town.

“I wonder how it’s going in there.” She mused.

Ruby grunted and slapped the side of the large barrel behind her.

“If you’re so concerned Amy, why don’t you go in there and ask her?”

She glared at the heavier set kobold for a moment before picking up the long ranged rifle lying on the ground next to them and passed it to Citrine.

Amethyst hissed. “Why are you so mean to me?”

“Because you sit there and worry yourself sweaty over this every time Sappy comes here. It always goes the same fucking way. She comes out all sad and stone faced, we ask her how she is and she just says ‘fine’.”

Ruby’s face softened as Citrine pulled her into leaning against her with one hand. Her other hand struggled to slip the rifle over her shoulder without snagging it on the machete that already hung there.

“I know she isn’t fine,” Ruby continued. “You know it, even Citrine knows it.”

“What?” Citrine asked, settling for having the rifle resting on her shoulder than slug across her back.

“Nothing, City,” Ruby caressed her cheek with the back of her hand. “I don’t mean to be so pissy about it Amy. We can’t force her to let us in; we can’t force her to talk about it. All we can do is, you know, be there for her when that levee breaks and trust me, it will break.”

“I guess you’re right.” Amethyst sighed and looked back at the building. 

***

Sapphire’s sinuses were filled with the smell of machines, motor oil, and the acrid scent of rust. She stood next to the large utility truck and waited patiently for the tall, thick human to conclude his business with the shorter and much stouter dwarf.

The gruff looking human carried the visage of her husband, so much that the sight of him stole her breath and made her legs weak. That’s how it always was when she came to see him.

“So, Grundle, I did what I could but you need to watch where you drive that hunk of junk. I gave you the last axel I had, possibly the last one in all existence and I did what I could for the other one. Four-wheel-drive is impressive and all but I advise you to stick to the roads.”

Even his voice echoed like a voice from her past. Sweat prickled along the ridges of her curved horns. She quickly dabbed them away on the back of her fingerless gloves. It was already hard enough to hide her weakness away from him. Sweating was just as bad as sobbing and there would be none of that, not this time.

 “Is that so, lad, well, I’ll do my best but my work takes me to places where no other shite car could take me.” The dwarf, Grundle, grunted.

 “Well, you’ve been warned, I can’t make it any clearer than that.” The human passed him a tablet with a cracked screen.

 “Holy bells of Saint Lupida, it’ll cost me that much?”

“Grundle, I don’t have a supplier. All that shit I packed into your vehicle; I have to go out and gather that up myself. I lost two workers and a vehicle to creepers just last week; I barely got away with my life. It’s getting dangerous out there.” There was a desperation in his voice that drew up the dwarf’s hands in understand.

“Alright, boyo, take it.” The dwarf pressed his thumb to the pad and the screen flashed green for a moment.

“Thanks, Grundle.”

“Aye, I know you wouldn’t cheat me, you’re too good of a dude for that.” The dwarf took his hand and shook it roughly before collecting his receipt. “See ya around, Dion, hopefully not too soon though.”

The two laughed and Sapphire watched the dwarf climb up into the cab of the old utility truck and slowly pull out of the shop. It was then that the human, Dion, noticed her. He was walk back towards his office without regards for her. Sapphire was used to it, she knew he wouldn’t want to see her, he never did.

Sapphire followed him into the cramped space of his office. The smell of machines fell a bit, replaced by the smell of old car air fresheners and the musky cologne that Dion wore. It was the same David wore. It caused her mouth to water slightly which in turn made her cheeks flush red.

“Sapphire.” He finally regarded her as he poured over his tablet.

“Dion.”

“I thought I told you to stop coming around here.” He scrolled through his tablet before finding his next project.

“I know.”

“You know but that don’t stop you from coming around. You’re worse than fleas.”

“I’ve come to-”

“He doesn’t want your goddamn money. He doesn’t need it. What he wants is to forget you even exist.” Dion slammed his hand on the desk.

“He was my son.”

“Stepson!”

 “Step…” Sapphire’s body shuddered at the spike in his voice.

“It’s bad enough that you lured David into your bed but then you brought him along on whatever adventures you deemed right, leaving Billy in my care.” Dion shouted angrily.

“He was heartbroken. I was just trying to give him something to focus on besides a dead wife.” Sapphire retorted.

“He should have been focusing on his son and not burying his bone in your scaly tail.”

“We were in love.” Sapphire gasped, clenching her fists so tightly that her claws bit into the leather of her gloves.

“Then why did you let him get killed?”

Dion slammed a hand onto the wall above Sapphire. He was easily three feet taller than her and four times her weight but she didn’t cower to his size, she cowered to the fire in his eyes. A pit opened in her stomach, threatening to swallow her up.

“It was a simple run, the tunnels were sealed. There weren’t supposed to be any creepers down there. We fought them; we fought them for so long. If he wouldn’t have pushed me out and sealed the door…I-I-”

“You’d of died too. Good. Then Billy and I wouldn’t have to look at you coming in here every few days trying to buy your salvation, trying to buy our forgiveness.”

Venom dripped from his lips. When he pushed away from the wall, it shuddered as hard as she was now.

“I just want to help.”

“Then help yourself to this,” Dion pulled a gun from beneath his brown work coat and pressed the barrel to her forehead. “If you ever come around here again, I’ll fucking finish you off for good.”

She could feel the metal warmed from being close to his body. The smell of the gun oil was even warmer in her nostrils as it prickled sweat all over her face. The pit in her stomach slowly began to fill itself in with rage. The sizzling of a fuse burned in the back of her mind and at that moment it ignited.

Dion was a strong capable human but he’d not expected her to fight back, he’d not expected her to be pushed that far. Her hand snapped up and pulled the barrel towards the wall behind her. The first crack was deafening in the small room. The wall splintered behind her and she used this opening for her chance to put all her weight into him. A quick lash of her tail coiled around his ankle and pulled him off balance.

Dion fell back through the door on the opposite side of the small room. His head hit the wooden railing of the platform just outside. Sapphire wrestled the revolver away from him, quickly ejecting the rest of the bullets before throwing the gun back into his lap.

“You stupid son of a bitch,” Her voice could be just as deadly as his at this caliber. “You lost a brother, I lost everything! I lost a son and a husband. I lost the love of my life. I lost my house which you moved your fat ass into. I lost everything, you hear me, Dion.”

“I…”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Sapphire jerked her own iron from the holster at her hip and aimed it at him. “I’ve listen to you ramble about how bad you have it! Now, you’ll listen to me for a change.”

His eyes went wide at the sight of the gun that was wholly familiar to him. “Al-alright, don’t do anything stupid.”

“Like let you badger me into feeling like it’s my fault, never again!” Sapphire eased the hammer back. “I just received a job, an end all be all job. When I’m done, I’m coming back for Billy and my house and everything I was too afraid to fight you for. Shit’s gonna change and there’s nothing that you can do to stop me.”

“Momma?”

Sapphire froze, almost too afraid to look back at the shadow that fell over her. Quickly she disarm her gun and tuck it back into the holster.

When she turned around, she saw the boy that was damn near a man now. His face was impossibly soft with soulful brown eyes just like his father. It took all the rest of her strength to not break down.

“Momma, what’s going on here?”

“Now, Billy, we’re just having a little disagreement here. Why don’t you go back upstairs until we settle this?” Dion said.

He grabbed the railing and pulled himself up. His gun slipped from his lap hitting the metal platform at his feet with a clang.

The lad’s large brown eyes looked from his uncle to the small kobold and then to the gun.

“Never you mind about that boy.” He picked it up and tucked it away.

Sapphire marveled at how tall he was now. He was at least a couple feet taller than her. It brought a smile to her face. Her crystal blue eyes found his in the strange fluorescent glow from above.

“Oh Billy, you’ve grown so much.”

“Momma, where have you been? I haven’t seen you in a couple years.”

He knelt down and rested a hand at the back of her neck. She closed her eyes at his affectionate touch. His once baby soft fingers were now taut with small callouses. It made her heart hurt to think how much she’d missed out on already.

“Maybe you should ask your uncle about it?” She managed to say through the lump in her throat.

“That’s ah…quite a story and maybe we should sit down and talk about it just the three of us, once you get back from the job you took, right?” Dion stammered.

For some reason, his stature was much smaller that she remembered.

“Going on another mission?”

“Yeah but this is the big one,” She smiled up at him. “The last one and then I’ll be coming home for good.”

“Really?” Billy smiled.

He had his father’s easy smile; it caused tears to well in her eyes. The levee bowed around the emotional wave that was piling up.

“I promise.” She adjusted the worn collar of his blue work shirt. “But for now, take this.” She punched a few numbers on her credit card and passed it to him.

“Five thousand?” His eyes went wide. “Momma, how-”

“It’s fine. Don’t go crazy with it, though. Put it with the rest of the money I gave to Dion to pass on to you.”

“The rest of it?” He asked quietly.

Sapphire wasn’t surprised by this in the slightest.

“It seems like you and your uncle have a lot more to talk about while I’m gone.” Sapphire smiled.

Billy looked at the man that was a foot taller than him but said nothing. Sapphire heard a soft swallow coming from Dion. She could almost hear his spine breaking down by the second.

“Now, give me a hug.”

She wrapped her arms around the taller boy’s neck. In the same instant, he did the same, having to crouch to really get in there.

“I’ll be back soon and you be a good boy.”

“I will.” He groaned as she doubled the strength of her hug. “It was really nice to see you again, momma.”

Sapphire pulled back to look at him, tears ran down her cheeks. “It was nice to see you too, sweetie. I love you.”

“I love you too.” He kissed her cheek and she felt light as a feather for the first time in years.

***

The lingering sound of his voice echoed in her mind as she stepped out into the street. The three kobolds she left waiting for her in the streets all mobilized once they saw her. Citrine stretched with her hands above her head, Ruby cracked her neck, and Amethyst scratched her belly through the black tank top she wore.

“You look like you’ve been crying, is everything alright?” Ruby asked, in spite of her mind telling her not too.

“You know, for the first time in a long while, I am. Thank you for asking, dear.” She said softly, the façade falling back into place as if it never left. “Come ladies, we have work to do.”

When she started off, Citrine, Amethyst, and Ruby all exchanged glances.

“I’ll be a dipped in shit,” Ruby snickered, the other two smiled and nodded. “I wonder what happened.”

“Are you coming, or do I have to do this on my own.” Sapphire called back to them, spurring them into catching up.


	3. That's the Way it Is

The patchwork metal gate stood tall in front of them, beneath an archway made of the same concrete as the twelve foot wall that ran the entire length of the town. Every forty feet along the wall, a tower stood. They posted two gunmen per tower to keep watch at anything that moved beyond the wall. Today the guns never seemed to be silent. Round after round was fired into the great wasteland beyond.

“Shit, looks like the gate locked up tighter than a priest butthole.” Ruby muttered.

She pointed passed Sapphire as they slowed to a halt in front of an orc wearing a worn military uniform. The orc soldier regarded them with a grunt as he poured over his tablet for a moment.

“Mercka Squad, you’re not on the list. How can I help you?” He snorted.

Even if his intent was meant to seem helpful, the gruff tone in his voice said otherwise.

“We just received orders on a special mission,” Sapphire explained. “We need to get through the gate.”

“You know you’re free to leave whenever you want but you have to go through the tunnels to do it.” The orc said, tucking the tablet under his arm.

“The tunnels?” Sapphire froze.

“That’s for tourists.” Ruby snapped. “We’re Mercka Squad, not second class citizens.”

“It has nothing to do with class,” The orc said gruffly. “Thanks to the increase in creeper activity out there in the field, everyone’s coming or going through the tunnels today.”

“There are creepers in the tunnels too.” Citrine said, leaning against Ruby lazily.

“Less then there are on the fields, I assure you.”

“Fine,” Sapphire sucked in a sharp hiss of air and looked at the others. “If we have to go through the tunnels, so be it. I’ll go first, Ruby in the back, close quarter weapons only, ladies.”

“Baldr, open the hatch.”

The orc called up to another orc that was leaning against the walls in the tower above. He snapped too attention and tended to the pully system, not unlike an old time well, that was fastened to the concrete lip of the tower. A few cranks brought the chain attached to the large metal grate taut before slowly creaked open.

The first orc said. “Mercka squad, do you have a flashlight, torch, or flares?”

“No, I didn’t think we were going to be crawling around in the tunnels.” Amethyst said sheepishly.

“Magic inclined?” The orc asked.

“Kobold aren’t inherently magic I’m afraid.” Sapphire answered.

“Understood, Melick, please release two 55’s to the Mercka Squad.” The orc said while looking at his tablet.

He punched a few buttons and grumbled. “Alright, Sapphire, give your thumb print here for the rental. You’ll have to return both 55’s or else be fined the four hundred creds to replace them. Do you understand?”

Sapphire didn’t say anything; she pressed her thumb to the screen until it flashed green.  The orc punched a few more things in before tucking the tablet under his arm again.

“Alright, you’re all set. I don’t have to tell you this but my job requires it. Follow the runner lights, don’t stray from the path. If a door is closed, don’t open it and good luck down there.”

The rehearsed lines rolled tiredly from his mouth as he beckoned them to the open hatch close to the outside wall.

Sapphire nodded and hurried on passed. The large orc standing at the hatch held out a pair of long black flashlights. The aluminum was light in her hands in spite of the heavy D-cell batteries inside. She handed one to Ruby before descending the ladder into the darkness.

“Are these all charged up?” Ruby said.

She gave the beat up cylinder a once over before clicking it on.

“S’right, be about five to seven hours of light time.” The soldier, Melick it said on his nametag, said. “Here’s a spare battery, toss the other one away when you’re done with it, won’t take another charge.”

“Thanks, big guy.”

Ruby tucked the battery in the baggy pocket of her cargo shorts before following the others down into the darkness. Once she was through, Baldr wasted no time in closing the hatch.

Sapphire shone the light all around the small chamber. White letters glowed under the stress of the beam, stating boldly. ‘Close this door when you leave!’ she remembered the words. They haunted her while she lay awake at night. They were the words she scrawled on the wall when she barely returned after losing David. They’d since repainted them every thirty days as a reminder.

“Taking back the tunnels was a bitch,” Amethyst sighed. “It was one of my first tasks as a soldier. Sixteen and flushing out creepers by the dozen. I can still hear them.”

“I can imagine.”

“What asshole thought going off course was a good idea that’s what I want to know. Letting all those pent up creepers into the main tunnel like that was fucking stupid?” Ruby checked the corners of the room with the light.

“Me…” Sapphire said.

She gripped the large valve handle for the airlock door and gave it a hard roll.

“You?” Ruby’s voice softened.

“Yeah,” She said with resignation. “It comes from being young and dumb. It was a mistake that cost me everything.”

She grunted at the final roll of the handle and pulled the hatch open into the tunnel beyond.

A green mist settled in around the murky water that ran the length of the black tunnel. A cloud of stench rushed into the room and enveloped them. Citrine retched a few time, unsuccessful dry fire that didn’t sooth her sudden need to purge. Ruby scoffed and pulled her scarf from around her neck and wrapped it across Citrine’s muzzle to help her stifle the smell.

“…hyews gads…stinks like a bagful of farts and rotten meat down here.” Ruby said teetering on her feet but managed to stay standing.

“I really wish I’d have known we were coming down here.” Citrine mumbled through the scarf. “I’d have worn whole boots.”

“Shit,” Amethyst sighed. “I didn’t think about that.”

“Too late to worry about it now ladies, we’ll just have to hurry and find our ‘friend’ and get back.” Sapphire’s swallow made a heavy popping sound.

She eased a small pistol from the holster at the small of her back and started into the tunnel. Amethyst followed behind her, her Glock already in hand with the safety thumbed off. Citrine was sliding a fresh magazine into her pistol as she stepped through the hatch into the water. A deep throated gag echoed through the tunnels. Ruby’s cackle amidst the whine of the heavy door as she pulled it closed behind them. The automatic lock spun and clicked loudly. They were sealed inside now. There was only one way out.

“Are we ready?”

Sapphire refrained from shining the flashlight in the others’ faces but she could see each of them nodding one after another. Ruby on the other hand was tightening the modified vice on the underside of her shotgun so it would hold her flashlight. They watched until she was done.

“What?” She asked.

“Jebbus, that’s really fucking cool.” Amethyst said.

“I modded it myself.”

“When did you get so handy?” Sapphire smirked.

“I’ve always been handy, Sappy; didn’t you read my dossier?”

“Didn’t have too,” Sapphire cradled her pistol over the back of the hand holding the flashlight before doing a tactical sweep. “Citrine vouched for you, I knew I could trust her.”

“No shit?”

“Hey, you two wanna shoot the shit later; I’m trying to keep an ear out for creepers.” Amethyst’s hiss snapped the other two to attention.

“Well, if you want to shoot the shit, there’s plenty to shoot down here.” Citrine snickered. “There’s some and there’s more right there.”

Amethyst snorted. “Goddammit City!” She muttered under her breath.

Then they fell silent as they started pushing onward into the darkness of the tunnel that stretched out before them.


	4. The Dark Places of the World

An hour later or maybe two; it was nearly impossible to tell how long they’d been walking through the ankle deep muck. Luckily, there’d been no sign of creepers, no sign of anything, for that matter. All of them, except for Ruby, let their guard slip. She struggled to hear over the other three talking. If there were any signs of life further on down the tunnel, she didn’t know. Eventually, she gave up and joined in on the conversation.

“What are you going to do with your cut?” Citrine asked.

She turned to look at Ruby, who was training her flashlight at the drainage grate on the ceiling.

“I dunno, maybe buy a house…one of those fancy build ‘em up models.” Ruby muttered.

“Nice choice.” Citrine giggled. “I haven’t decided what I’ll do with my part.”

“Hopefully you’ll help me pay for our house, numb nuts.” Ruby smirked.

“Oh yeah?” She slithered close with a playful posture. “Sounds to me like you want me to come live with you?”

“Of course I do.”

Ruby bumped the side of her head with her forehead.

“You know what would be cool?” Amethyst asked, slowing her pace and turned to look at them. “We could all live together in one big house.”

“No way,” Ruby laughed. “Then we’d have to share out bathroom with you two bums.”

“Nah, it would be just the three of you. I have other plans.” Sapphire added.

“Rude.” Citrine hissed.

Sapphire ignored her. She was too busy trying to figure out what Amethyst was looking at. It wasn’t until it glinted under the sweeping beam from Ruby’s flashlight that she could even venture a guess.

“What do you have there, Amy?”

Amethyst crouched down and plucked something from the slick black goo stuck to the sloping bevel of the tunnel. Then picked up another and another until she’d found them all.

“They’re casings, fresh ones too.”

She moved a few more feet away and fetched a small narrow item from the muck. It was a pistol magazine with four unspent bullets still inside.

“Hmm,” Amethyst said quietly. “Someone doesn’t know how to count their bullets.”

“You don’t suppose it’s our kobold thief do you?”

“Not likely, the card that elf gave us said the kobold left days ago. If they’d gotten stranded down here for that long, they’re dead. They’d have to be.”

“If that’s the case then at least we know we didn’t miss ‘em back that.” Ruby stated matter-of-factly.

“So what’s the plan?” Amethyst asked.

“If they’re dead, then we retrieve the body and bring it back.” Sapphire said.

“In that case, let’s keep our eyes peeled from now on.” Ruby added.

The small group pushed onward but they didn’t get far before coming up on something. Ruby knelt down and retrieved a scrap of fabric. It was fairly new material that looked as if had been torn off of someone.

“Stay frosty ladies, our kobold friend has company.”

She punctuated her sentence by pumping the slide on her shot gun. Citrine, who’d been looking at the ceiling, quickly caught the shell that flew out from the chamber and offered it back to Ruby.

“Stop cocking your gun for dramatic poise, you’re wasting ammo.” She said wistfully.

“What?” Amethyst and Sapphire said at the same time.

“What?” Citrine said, cocking her head to the side.

“No-nothing.” Ruby said.

She tucked the shell into her bandolier and beckoned for them to keep walking. When they started walking again, Amethyst tugged Sapphire’s tail.

“How far do we have to go until we’re out of here?”

“We have to go passed the row of doors, then around the Eastern bend, and finally it’s a straight shot to the end of the line.”

“How long?” Amethyst questioned.

“It’s a little less than an hour, more if we keep – shh!”

“What?”

“Shut up!”

Ruby gripped Amethyst’s muzzle to keep her quiet.

Several feet in front of them, they could hear a quiet voice muttering. It was followed by the sound of a metal cabinet closing.

“They know we’re close.” Sapphire whispered. “Sounds like they’re cornered in one of the offices at the row of-”

A squelching screech rumbled through the tunnels; it was followed by the tinny thwang of a something being thrown against metal. None of the kobolds spoke, they knew all too well what that sound was and knew what time it was. It was time to earn that paycheck.

In a well-rehearsed rhetoric, they fell into a tactical stance and started to move as one unit. Their guns were down but still at the ready, their eyes sweeping the darkness around them for any other aggressors.

They came to a steady slope in the tunnel as it moved to the left. They’d reached the row of four doors. They stood in the line on top of a small ledge with a set of metal mesh stairs climbing up to meet the platform. Three of the doors were closed, the two closest and the last one but the third one hung open and that’s where the loud sound was coming from.

Sapphire climbed the stairs onto the concrete platform in a crouching run. She reached the open door and swept passed pressing her back to the wall. Amethyst followed her but stopped just before the door. Citrine bypassed the stairs altogether, keeping her body as small as possible. Her bolt-action rifle was down from her shoulder and ready. She had another bullet tucked in her teeth just in case she missed, she never did though. Ruby stood just at the top of the stairs with her shotgun aimed at the door. She truly was the last line of defense and she liked it that way.

Sapphire nodded to each of them and waited for their respondent nod back. As quietly as she could, she peaked into the room. The sound of thundering against metal had slowed some but still came in desperate waves. There was a sickening slapping sound of wet feet and hands on the concrete floor. It came with a sickly sweet smell of rotting melons and billowed out in wafts with every slap against the metal cabinet.

Sapphire trained her pistol through the darkness of the room. If she couldn’t see it, then it couldn’t see her but that left them at a dangerous standoff. Sapphire looked at the Amethyst, who was visibly shaken, made a motion of someone using a lighter.

Amethyst nodded and slipped a flare from the niche on her belt and popped it off. The amber sparkling glow came with a powerful hiss. The pounding halted. Taking its place was the sound of gargled sniffling and a choking grunting sound. If it didn’t know they were there before, it was aware of them now. Amethyst flicked the red cylinder into the room bathing it in a crimson light.

Sapphire swallowed hard at the sight of the creature. It had been a few months since she’d seen a creeper and only one other time had she ever seen one up close. It looked human or human-ish but it crawled ferociously on all fours. Clawed hands that only had two wide fingers now, its ‘feet’ were melted into fat masses with one crooked claw. Its spine was longer and gave way to a long craned neck that hung down lower than its shoulders. The skin was thick and waxen, like several candles were burned on top of each other. The creature dripped and oozed with a viscous liquid that looked like antifreeze. The creeper’s face was split along its jaw line all the way back behind its earholes. It sniffed the air through its darkened hole where its nose should be. It opened its mouth to let a long black, rope-like tongue taste the scents nearby.

As terrifying as it looked, the sunken cataract eyes were the most disturbing part of it. They were a remembrance of a past civilization. Human enough in appears to give someone pause. Creepers drifted between the realm of the living and the ending of life. Magic radiation permeated their bodies, making them immortal to time and natural death but not to-

The creeper squealed with an ear piercing tone. Its jaw unhinged to a size that could easily swallow a kobold’s head if it wished it and it did.

Sapphire squeezed the trigger of her pistol and the shot hit home, right over the left eye and into whatever counted as a brain in the creature anymore. A second later, another shot. This one came from Amethyst and hit in the blackness of the creepers mouth. It fell and slapped around on the ground. Its squeal died out with a gurgle and soon, so did the flopping. It died down to nothing more than convulsing and the guttural rumble of drowning in its own fluids. The flare began to flicker out as well as if to indicate the creatures waning existence in this world. Then the room fell into darkness and the creature was dead.

The crumpled metal storage cabinet shuddered for a moment before the door slowly creaked open.

A small voice whispered from inside. “Is it…dead?”

Sapphire flicked her flashlight as she got to her feet before sidling into the room.

“Yeah, it’s dead. You can come out now.”

“Did you get the others too?” The voice whispered; the door opened all the way.

“What others?” Amethyst asked.

“You fool, we have to go now!”

The figure darted from the open cabinet and out the door before anyone could react. Sapphire managed to snatch a look at the deep green scales of the kobold as he ran. He was small and lightweight but enough of a mass to shoulder past Amethyst as he jumped over the rusted metal railing into the muck below.

When he hit the murky water he was at a full sprint away from them and the way they’d come. Citrine turned and aimed her gun at him.

“No!” Sapphire screamed.

She hurried to the railing with her hand out stretched. The yellow kobold jolted. The rifle exploded in her hand but the bullet tinged off of something further down the line. The green kobold stumbled as if ducking out of the way of anymore bullets coming for him.

“You scared me,” Citrine said. “Oh man, there goes my average.”

"We need him alive!” Sapphire snapped.

“Says you?” Ruby barked.

“Shut up!” Amethyst’s voice rang out louder than the rest of them and carried on in a echo down both ways.

It was then that the two doors next to Ruby started to shudder on their hinges. Inside, something was aching to be free.

Sapphire saw the doors and remembered the markings left by the sweeper squads a long time ago. This was the way she’d gone four years ago. This was where David had died.

They’d sealed and marked to doors to keep other for making their same mistake, except they were sealed anymore. Lying amidst the debris at Ruby’s feet were the leverage bars they’d left to keep the doors from opening.

“Run!” Sapphire whispered and was over the railing the next instant.

“Wait, what?” Ruby asked.

She looked down at scrap around her and then at the door.

“Shit!”

Ruby backed down the stairs and started off after them. Amethyst brought up the rear but was gaining.

The doors behind them exploded outward and the tunnel was filled with the squealing of a dozen creepers and more. Citrine broke into a full run. She was taller and thinner than the others but her body was made for keeping a distance between her and her quarry. She passed Sapphire with ease. Her heart pounded in her ears as memories flooded her mind, memories of the creepers and what they were capable of.

“How far…until we reach…the end?” Ruby panted as she managed to catch up to Sapphire.

“At this…speed, ten…fuck, how are you…so fast.”

Ruby gritted a smile. “Motivation is a bitch…ain’t it?”

Amethyst was falling behind. No matter how hard she pumped her body to run. She was denser than the others and her paunch made it hard for her to keep up.

“Go on…without me, guys!” She called to them.

“Fuck that!”

Ruby turned, slowing to a backpedaling pace. The wave of fleshy creepers was coming on fast and they would engulf Amethyst in seconds, there was little she could do now.

A loud crack came from further down the path. One of the creeper’s heads exploded. When it fell, it tripped the many more creepers coming up behind.

Citrine was perched on an old railway car that had crashed through the wall and has since been stranded there for a century or more. Another shot rang out and another Creeper fell to her deadly aim. Ruby reached Amethyst and pulled her along by the straps of her harness.

“Come on fat ass, I ain’t leaving you to die down here.” Ruby grunted.

She’d holstered her shotgun on her back and jerked her Glock free for easier use.

“Move it!” A voice called from down the way.

It was the emerald kobold they’d rescued. He was coming back down the way, gun in hand and he was firing past the red and purple kobolds. Sapphire spared him a glance as she pulled a stubby cylinder from her belt and flicked the switch welded to the side. A small light built into the switch started flickering with an ear-piercing blipping sound.

“Close your eyes!” She yelled.

She lobbed the grenade and it fell into the wave of Creeper. The blipping grew faster and faster until it pulsed hard, sending a shockwave out in every direction.

The waxy creepers toppled harmlessly amidst the shower of muck and debris. The force picked Amethyst and Ruby up, tossing them several feet back towards Sapphire, who also fell back on top of the green kobold.

“A pulse grenade?” Ruby gasped.

Amethyst panted excitedly. “Fuck yeah!”

Ruby grunted and got to her feet, finding her pistol the next instant.

Amethyst gripped her shoulder, an affectionate look filling her eyes. “My hero.”

“Yeah, yeah…keep it in your pants biggun, let’s go.”

Citrine still fired from her perch, downing as many as she could, trying to buy them as much time as she could before she reached her last cartridge.

“I’m out!” She called before dropping down to meet them before running ahead.

“They’ll only stay staggered for a second, come on.” Sapphire ordered.

She broke into a full run after Citrine. The green kobold followed behind her with Ruby and Amethyst bringing up the rear.

Around the bend and just ahead was the steel airlock and beyond that was the ‘decompression room’ and their safety. When Citrine reached the door, she pulled hard on the valve handle but it didn’t move. No matter how hard she tried to spin it, it seemed jammed.

“Get it open.” The green kobold cried.

“What’s the hold up?” Sapphire snapped.

“I don’t know; I’m not an engineer?” Citrine mumbled nervously as she clawed at her arm frantically.

“We’re losing our distance advantage. Open the fucking door.” Ruby yelled from a few feet away.

Behind her and Amethyst came another onslaught of creepers. Even though the number should have been less, they weren’t. They were crawling all over each other for a bite of kobold flesh.

Citrine and Sapphire struggled to turn the valve but it wouldn’t budge. Even with the help of the small male kobold, they couldn’t get it. They all jolted at the sound of Ruby’s shotgun erupting in cavern. She cocked it and fired again, turning two of the closest creepers into mush. The soft sound the Amethyst’s pistol peppered between the thunderous roar of Ruby’s gun.

“Get it open!” Ruby yelled.

“We’re trying!” Sapphire screamed and pried at the wheel.

“Fucking hurry!”

“We can’t get it to budge.” The male groaned.

“Guys!” Amethyst screamed.

“Please god!” Citrine started to weep.

“Fuck it!” Ruby thrust her shotgun into Amethyst’s hand as she picked up a lead pipe lying among the muck. She wedged it between two of the valve spokes.

“It’s basic fucking leverage and torque knowledge, read a fucking book. Gimme a hand, Chubs.”

Amethyst fired the heavy gun once more before turning to see Ruby’s hands cradled in front of her. She knew what to do. She darted towards her and jumped into the air. Her foot falling into the cradle of Ruby’s waiting hands. The red kobold was stronger than any one of her friends thought and with a heavy grunt, she managed to throw the heavier kobold up over her shoulder in the hopes that Amethyst would know where to land.

She did. The lead pipe swung hard and sprung the valve free. Sapphire grabbed the pipe and pulled it free as Citrine and the green kobold rolled the valve open.

Sapphire came around and threw the pipe like a spear. It didn’t cause any damage but it managed to trip a few of the closer creepers. Both her pistols were free and she fired them haphazardly into the crowd while backing away.

Amethyst fired the shotgun one final time, shredding a creepers limbs but it kept coming. Citrine grabbed Ruby and pulled her through the door. The green kobold fired past them from the safety of ‘decompression chamber’.

One by one the kobolds fell in and Ruby pushed the door closed. An arm grabbed her leg from gap in the door. It pulled and tore at the scales, causing purple blood to seep from her wounds. She screamed in agony and fell back.

“I got you!”

Citrine dropped the blade of her machete down on the arm, there was a crunch and then another as she hacked it away. Amethyst pushed the door all the way closed and spun the valve to lock it.

“Get the arm away from her!” The green kobold screamed.

He grabbed it and tossed it against the wall.

“Burn it!” He continued.

“Have you lost your mind?” Ruby grunted, while Citrine worked on cleaning the wound.

“Do it!”

The arm started undulating and bubbling. The mass started to spring from it. A shoulder grew from the stub, followed by a neck, and eventually a head that started squealing.

“What the fuck!” Sapphire gasped.

The blue kobold snatched a paint can from the debris on the floor and snapped another flare before incinerating the mass in a burst of fire from her homemade flamethrower.

She didn’t stop unto the metal lid of her lighter glowed red, ignoring the burning pain in her fingers. Once the mass stopped moving she dropped them both and fell back on her butt on the floor panting heavily.


	5. The Male Kobold

The group remained quiet for a few moments as they heard the creepers throwing themselves against the steel door in vain. None of them could look away from the smoldering mass on the floor. The arm that seemed to be growing into another creeper, it was more than something out of a nightmare; it was catastrophic.

“What…was-” Amethyst grunted before purging her lunch in the corner.

“So that’s how they multiply?” Citrine muttered.

“These creepers are actually a different species than the ones up top.” The green kobold said.

When he spoke everyone looked at him. He tried to ignore their stares as he knelt down next to Ruby who reeled at his approach.

“You’re infected.” He said in a soothing voice.

When he reached into his puffy ribbed vest, Ruby pressed her pistol to the side of his head. Everyone tensed as the green kobold slowed his pace. He pulled a glowing green syringe from the inside his torn vest and slowly handed it to Citrine.

“I know you don’t trust me but I am only trying to help. Please, miss…”

“Citrine.” She said.

She looked closely at the vial, her fingers starting to tremble.

“Citrine, please inject this directly into the wound. It’ll hurt at first but then you’ll feel a warming sensation, and then it’ll get very cool and numb for a day or two.”

“Magic?” Citrine looked at him. “Like a potion from my story books?”

“That’s right.” He said.

The green kobold smiled and got to his feet approaching Sapphire.

“I have to thank you for saving me.” He said.

“Who are you?”

“I-I don’t have a name but my number is K-15,” He pulled one of his sleeve up and showed the brand burned on the inside of his forearm.

“Oh my gods.” Citrine winced when she saw it.

Sapphire gave him a once over. The kobold was slim, even by kobold standards. A single row of spike, less than an inch long, s ran the length of his muzzle, back between his eyes, to the top of his head. Obviously he was young, judging by the stubby size of the spikes. Even with his long sleeved flannel shirt, torn puffy vest, and blue jeans, she could tell there were no muscles structure to him. And when she shook his hand, the soft palm scales were smooth and his claws manicured down to the fingertips. This kobold had never spent a day outside. Even his boots were solid, which meant he didn’t know how to use his foot claws to climb with either. He was as naked and new as a hatchling.

“Well, K-one-”

“It’s K-fif-”

“Okay one fiv-”

“No ma’am, it-”

“Emerald…we’ll call you Emerald for fuck sake!” Ruby growled, the spike in her voice cause the creepers to start slapping against the door again.

The green kobold cocked his head. “Emerald?”

“Yes, I’m Sapphire, the yellow one is Citrine and-”

“Amethyst,” The green kobold pointed towards the purple kobold; she nodded in return. “That must make you, Ruby. You’re all named after gemstones, why?”

“Because most of our kind lives underground and hasn’t been seen in centuries. Some believe they took up an alliance with the dwarves and stay down there with them now.” Sapphire explained.

“I’ve seen several kobolds where I come from.” Emerald smiled thoughtfully.

“What?” Amethyst said.

“What do you mean, where are you from?”

“It’s a place far from here, somewhere to the east. I was kept in a cell for…well for as long as I can remember. They did experiments on me.” He whispered.

All eyes were on him, scrutinizing him and sizing him up. His yellow eyes met their strong gazes for a brief second before nervously dancing away.

“Experiments,” Sapphire asked suspiciously. “What kind and by whom?”

The green kobold fished a pair of glasses out of his breast pocket before setting him atop his narrow muzzle. The thing wired glasses seemed to be crafted to fit him and him alone. Sapphire had never seen anything crafted for the sole purpose of kobold use before.

“I don’t know the name of the group.” Emerald stated with certainty. “They’re elves; they wore masks and hazmat suit. They’re stationed in a facility called Avalon buried beneath the suburbs outside Varic’s Wasteland.”

“That’s where-”

“The second bomb hit, yes.” Emerald confirmed.

“You mean the first – the only bomb, right?” Sapphire asked, crossing her arms.

“N-no. There were two explosions.” He gestured with his hands. “The first that Latherimy dropped back during the war of nations; it obliterated seventy percent of the world. The nations that were left behind either hid underground, died from the magic radiation, or found a way to survive on the thirty percent left behind.”

“Hey four-eyes, how about you-” Ruby grunted sharply.

Citrine injected her wound with the syringe that she’d been studying in silence. Ruby glared at her for a beat before letting out a quivering sigh. The wound glowed orange for a long moment and slowly closed up as if it never existed in the first place.

“Good gods, it works.” Citrine gasped.

Ruby stared wide eyed at the place where the wound had been. She touched it and winced. The wound was gone but the ghost of it still haunted her skin. She could feel hot pulses moving through her and knew that the magic was quickly eradicating the remnants with extreme prejudice.

“Where the hell did you get this?” Ruby asked.

“And how do you know about those freaks in the tunnel.” Amethyst asked, wiping the corner of her mouth.

“How did you even get here?” Sapphire questioned.

Ruby cut in. “I still want to know more about this mysterious explosion, we know nothing about.”

With all the questions flying him at once, Emerald slowly backed away. He felt his heart starting to pound in his chest. It quickly spread to his head and thrummed on. His breathing grew short, threatening to suffocate him if he didn’t find a safe harbor away from this anxiety that crept in all around him.

Then a hand found his and he turned to see the yellow kobold looking up at him with wide amber eyes. They were simple, calm, with a depth of mystery beneath them. Emerald couldn’t say for certain if he felt safe with in her gaze but he did share her calmness.

“What’s your favorite color?” She asked, her voice a whisper.

Emerald felt renews. His mind drifted back into the here and now. Everyone was still asking question to which he held up his hands to quiet them. He was still visibly shaken by all of this.

“Please.” His uttered his plea. “I’m quite overwhelmed.”

“I’m sorry,” Sapphire spoke comfortingly to him. “I know you’ve been through a lot, just answer what you can.”

“Thank you.”

He settled in on the floor with his eyes closed. He took a deep breath and held it in for a long moment before sighing it out again. It was a breathing exercise that kept him calm during the more mentally straining experiments.

“As I said before, I’ve lived in the facility for as long as I can remember. I had a small pod half the size of this room. Everyday these elves in white would come and take my temperature, weigh me, check my height. Standard clinic checks, I assume. Then they would feed me strange pills and salves, watching what they did to me through the glass looking into my home.”

“Whatever they were giving me, changed me. By the age of five, I understood trigonometry and physics. That was when I learned about the second explosion. It came ten centuries after the first one. The second one hit, undoing everything that the world had been working toward.” He said, taking a slow steadying breath. “It was strange and unexplainable but the second explosion hit the same exact point as the first one; give or take a mile. It leveled everything back to square one.”

Emerald licked his lips, feeling the dry click in his throat. Citrine pulled a canteen of water from her pack and handed it to him.

“Thank you, my dear.”

“So all of this, these tunnels. The vehicles, the guns, they are all from things that happened between the two explosions?” Sapphire asked.

Emerald nodded, he managed to get his breathing under control at last.

“It’s been three hundred and fifty some odd years since the last explosion and none of the radiation has subsided yet. That’s one of the main reason they built Avalon, I suppose, to figure out the half-life of this new – er new-ish magical radiation and what caused the second explosion in the first place.”

“Whoa you guys, this seems like something out of a science fiction book.” Citrine sighed; a dreamy glow filled her eyes.

“I was transported here as proof or evidence to be shown off to some important bigwig.”

“Who are they and for what purpose?” Sapphire asked, frustration was flushed on her face.

“I don’t know. I never made it to the meeting.” Emerald explained. “I used some acid to melt the lock on my holding pod. Then I grabbed the data research and ran.”

Emerald reached into his vest. Sapphire jerked her pistol free from her back and he froze, looking at her wide eyed. Ruby gripped the gun and pushed it down to the ground before giving Sapphire a Wry smile.

“Easy Tex, I don’t think he’s stupid enough to pop off now.”

“I-” Sapphire began but cut it off with a nod.

Once Emerald was sure he wasn’t going to die, he pulled out a small tablet, no bigger than a cellular phone and held it up to them.

Sapphire mused. “So you are the one we were hired to capture.”

“I suppose so.” He said.

Sapphire again raised the gun, this time she eased the hammer back with a hollow click. Emerald’s back tightened and he felt a sudden urge to urinate. He might already have, he couldn’t tell because of the numbness that rippled through his body.

“Sappy!” Amethyst screamed.

“Goddammit! Put the gun down, girl.” Ruby hissed.

“He has to go back, we signed a contract.”

This time, Amethyst clumsily grabbed the gun but Sapphire quickly shoved her away, aiming the gun at Emerald again. He flinched and fell back on the rubbly floor. Citrine crawled over to him, pulling him tight.

“Don’t hurt him!” She cried.

As the confusion unfolded, Ruby snatched Sapphire’s hand and pressed the barrel of the gun to the side of her head.

“Ruby!” Sapphire gasped.

“Take a good long look! This is what it would look like, if it weren’t for him.” She snapped; her breath warm and sweet light cinnamon on Sapphire’s face. “You’d be putting a bullet through my brain to stop me from coming after the rest of you. The least we can do is hear him out.”

Sapphire released the gun into Ruby’s hand before backing away.

“If you only knew how much I have riding on this,” Sapphire said. “You’d not ask me to make this choice.”

“Maybe if you’d open up to us once in a while, we’d know.” Amethyst said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Sapphire looked between them for a few seconds before sighing in resignation.

“Fine, what are you planning on doing with the information?” She asked.

Ruby handed her the gun back and gave her a comforting smile. Sapphire scoffed and slipped the gun away before thumbing the strap closed.

“I just wanted to read it.” Emerald said.

His voice was muffled by Citrine’s nearly non-existent bosom.

“Let ‘em go you dork, you’re gonna suffocate him.” Ruby laughed, kneeling next to them on the floor.

Citrine lurch towards Ruby and wrapped her arms around the stronger kobold’s neck. Ruby welcomed her hug by giving her a kiss on her neck.

“Read it,” She grunted. “That’s all?”

“There’s so much information in here. Some of it might be beneficial, most of it might be garbage but what if there’s something completely life changing in here.” He said wistfully as he looked at the tablet. “What if we have a chance to make a difference?”

Sapphire bent down and took it from him before he could stop her. She slipped it into the pocket of her jacket.

“Alright, we’ll give it a look then.”

“Thank you, Sapphire.” Emerald said as she helped him to his feet.

“You may regret that thanks later.” Sapphire said cryptically. “Either way, we can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous and disgusting to be reading some boring science documents here.”

“How’s your leg, Ruby?”

“Better than yours, why, what were you thinking?”

“Milton’s isn’t far from here.” Sapphire mused.

“Night times not far off, visibility will be shit.” Amethyst said, tucking her hands in her back pockets.

“I figured we can sleep in the trunk of a car between here and there. We’d make to Milton’s before lunchtime tomorrow if we start now.” Sapphire rubbed her chin.

“Milton’s? You don’t mean that burned out building on the horizon, do you?” Citrine said; she blinked and cocked her head.

“Just the bottom five floors are burned out. They’ve since been reinforced and transformed into a maze of traps for any creepers stupid enough to wander in there.” Sapphire explained.

“What of the increased creeper activity outside the walls?” Ruby asked.

“Let’s pull out weapons and check our ammo situation.” Sapphire said.

She slapped her palm with the back of her hand as if ushering them to attention. Her crystal blue eyes found Emerald amidst the gals.

“Come on; form up ladies…and gentleman,” She smirked at Emerald.” Fall in line; we’re making a move in twenty.”

He was shocked by her own willingness to fold her into the group so soon after meeting them. Still, he did as he was told for further risk of endangering himself by insubordination.


	6. Goodbye Green Skies

            Amethyst and Ruby braced themselves against the hatch door and pushed upward with all of their might. It was slow to budge but eventually they could feel the hot winds of the surface blowing in on them. Sand slipped through the crack in the door and rained down upon them, finding every nook and cranny that would make it a nuisance later.

            “Come on, Chubs.” Ruby groaned. “Use your legs.”

            “I am.” Amethyst pushed harder.

            Finally, the hatch opened and fell back against a pile of sand that had been on top of it a second ago. Amethyst climbed out first, perching near the edge with her pistol drawn. The hatch sat in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by a rickety chain link fence to keep creepers from camping near the hole.

To the South, Amethyst could see the town they’d just left. Walter’s Haven, so named because the man who owned the apartment complex at some point in history, name was Walter Freely. Now it was nothing more than sheet metal walls and rickshaw huts behind a great concrete and rebar wall. Still, it was the largest city around and a great trade hub for weary travels passing through the safe zones. Though, with the increase of creepers on the move, not many people traveled this far south anymore.

She trained her lavender eyes to the west. Milton’s Haven could be seen silhouetted by the glowing green sky. It was dangerously close to the radiation zone, which was odd because it was one of the nicest places to stay when traveling.

To the north was a great wide open space. Amethyst could see the burned out building from where she was found as an egg. Her parents were human mercenaries that collected her as a prize. It wasn’t a loving relationship but she’s learned a great deal about how to survive in the wild.

That left the oceans to the east. They stretched on for miles, beyond the sight of even the best scope. No one knew what lay out there because the water was so toxic to touch. It’ll melt flesh from the bone, brittle any wood, and oxidize any metal set upon it. Still, Amethyst loved to walk along the beaches. There was usually useful things to be found and creepers seemed to avoid that areas altogether.

Ruby scoffed angrily as she still hung from the ladder waiting for the signal that it’s safe to come up.

“Do you see anything?”

“Yeah, I was just scanning the horizon for trouble.”

“Scanning the…just say looking around, gods above, this isn’t a musical.” Ruby grumbled.

She scampered up past Amethyst giving a quick look around as well. There were trashed cars, broken campers, rocks, and other debris strewn about. Therein lay the true concern. Creepers took refuge in the debris during the light hours. Sometimes the sun beat down on the grey clouds and heated up the world to a dangerous degree. Then there were wind storms that would throw heated grains of sand like machine gun fire. It could strip flesh from bone in a matter of minutes.

Emerald was the next one up; he winced against the light and moved to stand close to Ruby as if she were his protector. She grunted and shoved him away, causing him to trip and fall into the hot sand.

“Don’t stand so close, dork.” She hissed.

She flexed with posturing dominance but he didn’t react how she thought he should. A soft guilty pang rippled in her stomach. Her thoughts were snapped away by a hard punch to the shoulder. It jarred her bones all the way to the teeth and she turned to glare at Amethyst.

“Can you try to be less of a dick?”

“Ooh, gotta crush on him, do you?”

Ruby scoffed and rolled her eyes. She wanted to rub the sharp ache in her shoulder but knew that Amethyst would think less of her if she did.

Amethyst glared at her frustrated but didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to, the blush on her cheeks was apparent enough.

“The first male we’ve seen in, like, forever and you’re ready to ride him into the sunset.” She mumbled under her breath but not quiet enough to go unnoticed.

“I am not…that’s…”

Emerald got to his feet and looked for Amethyst to finish her thought. When she didn’t, he adjusted his glasses as if to help steel himself for what was to come.

“You weren’t going to say disgusting, were you?” He cleared his throat as if gathering his thoughts. “It shouldn’t be viewed that way. It’s a hundred percent natural to mate for the preservation of…the…”

Emerald’s voice trailed off as Ruby and Amethyst stared at him. One face bent in snide amusement, the other’s eyes wide, her mouth hanging open. What led him to stop talking altogether was when Sapphire’s chilly gaze fell upon him. He slipped his hands into his jean pockets and nodded his resignation.

Citrine wrapped an arm around the smaller kobold’s shoulders and leaned on him, surprised to see that he didn’t bow under her weight as he was scrawny at best.

“Aw, I wanted to hear the naughty bits.” She whispered.

“Yeah, doc, tell us all the juicy parts.” Ruby snickered.

“I’ve never actually – suffice it to say - you see there’s a lot of media available for study.” He stammered.

As he spoke his lingering red tint built up along his cheeks until he looked a bit peaked.

“Don’t worry, Em, no one’s expecting you to perform.” Ruby winked.

“It’s alright; curiosity in oneself is healthy after all.”

“Ruby, Citrine, are you two quite finished?” Sapphire snapped. “I’d rather not stand out here gabbing while the creepers move in on us.”

She kicked the hatch closed with some finality and twisted the lock.

“Sorry, Sappy.” Citrine said.

She leaned away from Emerald and gave him an apologetic smile. He returned the smile, in a nervous sort of way and took off his glasses. He tucked them away inside his vest which he straightened in the next instant. Sapphire stared at him for a long moment before walking up to him.

“You do understand that this isn’t a game, Emerald, you’re well aware of what’s a stake, right?” She kept her voice low.

He nodded and shrunk under the more dominate female’s approach.

“Good, because all of this,” She motioned all around him with her hand. “Is because we trust you in what you said about this Avalon. We, we could make this all go away right now by marching your skinny ass back to town and turning you over to Orc-Ox-”

“Durger-Ox-” Amethyst tried to say before she was interrupted.

“Whatever!” Sapphire’s voice spiked.

“Shh!” Citrine hissed.

“That’s right, fearless leader, you’ll bring the creepers down upon us.” Ruby wriggled an eyebrow.

“I fucking hate all of you.” She said.

Sapphire gritted her teeth; her comment only worked to make the other’s laugh harder. She ignored them the best she could as she looked back to the smaller kobold.

“I won’t let you endanger us, either by whatever passes as your male machismo or your lack of ability to take care of yourself in this world.”

“I will try my best.”

“No, you will do your best.” Sapphire’s eyes narrowed. “Give me your gun.”

Emerald pulled his pistol from the band of his pant and held it out to her.

“This is a Glock 17, nine-millimeter pistol, with the…” Sapphire paused, clicking the safety on. “Whenever you’re not using it, make sure the safety is on.”

“Push this down to reload.” She depressed a small lever on the side and ejected the magazine. “Learn to count your bullets and if you eject the magazine, catch it and put it away. These things don’t grow on tree. Also…”

Emerald looked up her. The warm red tint was returning to his green cheeks. This time it wasn’t embarrassment, she could tell by the way he narrowed his eyes sharply. It was easy to read that he was angry with the way she was talking to him.

“Listen, I know you already know how to do this, I don’t think you’re stupid. I’m just trying to help you stay alive longer.” Sapphire stated.

She looked passed Emerald to the other three kobolds who all wore intrigued smiles at her mothering demeanor. Again, she tried to ignore them and continued her lesson.

“Make sure you reload your magazines whenever you have a quiet moment and always keep a fresh one in your gun and chamber the first round.”

“When we reach Milton’s, we’ll go more in depth on how to keep your handgun clean and oiled.” She finished, holding the gun out to him.

 “Thank you, ma’am.” Emerald said, controlling his spiteful tone.

He took the gun and gave it look over to make sure that the safety was on. Sapphire reached into her hip pouch and produced two fresh magazines, handing them over. He took them and slipped one in his back pocket, the other he tucked under his arm. He ejected the magazine, slipping it into breast pocket of his vest. He quickly replaced it with the one that was tucked in his armpit. He finished by pulling back the slide, chambering the round.

“Like so?”

“Look at you go, nerd.” Ruby snickered.

“Alright, everyone, here’s the plan. We’re heading straight towards Milton’s. Use the bushes, cars, and other stuff as cover to keep out of sight. I want eye contact on each of you. Every two minutes, let yourself be known.”

Sapphire’s orders were clear and everyone nodded their understanding. With that out of the way, she hunkered down and scurry up the fence before dropping down on the other side. Emerald and Amethyst went next, though the green kobold was struggling to get over the flimsy fence with his toes covered. He fell into Amethyst’s waiting arms without much physical harm.

“Thank you.” He said softly.

“No problem, little dude. You’ll get the hang of this in no time.”

Ruby dropped down hard on the ground next to him, startling him. She offered him a wicked smile that caused him to back closer towards Amethyst.

“Or you’ll end up dead.” She said.

“Catch me, my love.” Citrine called and dropped down from the top of the fence.

Ruby flinched and reached out, barely able to catch her before they both fumbled to the sand. Citrine scrambled to her feet, taking long striding steps as she rubbed her butt.

“You dropped me.”

“You jumped on me!” Ruby grunted and gripped the small of her back. “You have to give me more warning before you do that shit.”

“Both of you, fun times over.” Sapphire said, drawing her pistol.

Ruby and Citrine looked at each other and nodded before readying their weapons. They fell in line. The five of them started moving along the sand covered road, keeping low and out of sight as Sapphire suggested. If there were creepers out, they were really well hidden.

*** 

A few hours passed and the silhouette of the tower in the distance was drawing closer. At some point the group split off and now Sapphire and Emerald were alone next to a car. They’d seen scores of creepers moving off in the distance, unaware that they existed at all which was for the best, since they were known to swarm.

“Sticks,” Emerald whispered, he followed Sapphire around a tireless car. “I call them Sticks.”

“Sticks? Why?” She asked.

Sapphire rolled around to sit at the front of the car to look at him. He slipped in to sit next to her. Their shoulders and thighs touched by their close proximity.

“Take a look.”

Emerald pointed at a few creepers gathered by a dilapidated trailer a good distance from the road. Their skin wasn’t much different that the creepers in the tunnel, except they were bone dry. Their limbs were thinner and their heads looked more skull-like. As fast as the ones in the tunnels were, the ones on the surface were lighter and faster but easier to dispatch due to their brittle nature.

“Oh, I get it. You call them that because they’re all dried and crusty like sticks.” Sapphire smiled at him.

“There are so many more varieties too, I-” The soft sound of a fluttery whistle nearby caused Emerald to jolt. “What was that?”

“A kill, come on.”

Sapphire darted out from the car and headed across the road. Emerald was right behind her. They made it to the other. Citrine was hiding behind a large downed freeway sign. She was sitting next to a dead creeper, clutching her machete. Ruby came up from a small drainage ditch nearby with Amethyst right behind.

“I heard…” Ruby wrapped her arms around Citrine and kissed her neck. “Where did you go, I turned around and you were gone.”

“I saw something.” She said defiantly.

 “What?” Ruby looked her in the eye, shaking her head. “What? What did you see that’s worth your life?”

Citrine held up a stuffed bear that seemed to be in remarkable condition for where she found it. It was a tannish brown color. It was a bit sun bleached with a white bow that Ruby thought may have been pink at one time.

“I’ve always wanted one.”

“I-I know but you have to tell me before you run off.” Ruby said.

“I’m sorry.”

She caressed her fingers along Citrine’s cheeks and pulled her into a soft kiss.

 “Alright, so we should-”

“Shh!” Amethyst hissed.

She hunkered down as if she was ready to sprint. Slowly, she eased a small cylinder from her belt and snapped it with a jerk of her wrist. It extended into a metal baton.

A low guttural groan could be heard from just on the other side of a mound of earth. It was joined by two others. It was a small roving band of creepers looking for their fallen compatriot. Sapphire pulled her combat knife from its sheath and held it to the ready. Ruby took Citrine’s hand as they slowly started making their way back towards the road.

 “Low and quiet, follow them.” Sapphire whispered to Emerald, who was already moving before she finished.

Emerald heard a deep throated hiss that came from nearby. He turned to see another one of the creepers perched on a car close by. Its cataract eyes loll around and stopped at the dispersing group of kobolds. There was no way it didn’t see them. It hunkered down and was prepared to pounce on the unknowing Sapphire.

“Look out!” Emerald hollered as he drew his gun.

The first three shots went wide and the fourth hit the thick in its back haunch. Sapphire turned around in enough time to stab it in the neck. Its squeal died in its throat but it was far too late. The gunfire alone was enough to summon every creeper for miles around.

Amethyst was the first to dart passed them in a full run. The three creepers hunting them gave chase.

“Citrine, she’s giving us an opening.” Ruby called, bringing the shotgun down from across her back.

Sapphire grabbed Emerald by the shirt and pulled him to his feet as she ran by. She stopped long enough to regard him with a smile and a nod. The gesture left him feeling awkward but it was something he’d have to deal later. For now was the time for them to make their escape.

A loud crack sounded. The Berretta in Citrine’s hand brought death to the three pursuing creepers. They fell to the sand sliding to a halt behind Amethyst who was digging through her hip pouch for something.

“There!” Ruby called.

She pointed to a large group of creepers sweeping in like a mangled team of wild horses.

“Shit!” Sapphire looked at the tower that was still half a day away and shook her head. “We’re fucking dead.”

“No, buy me some time.” Amethyst called to her.

She pulled something that looked like a small pocket protector from her pouch.

“You heard her ladies, give her some fucking space.” Ruby cocked her shotgun.

Citrine darted forwards to catch the needlessly discarded shell on her way to a new perching position. She was so fast that Ruby almost missed the yellow blur as it passed by.

“You, stay close to Amethyst and make sure nothing gets to her.” Sapphire ordered Emerald before giving his shoulder a firm grip.

“I’ll try - I’ll do my best.”

He started towards Amethyst with his gun clumsily trained to any approaching danger, kneeling down once he reached her.

“Citrine, 1:30!” Ruby called, shouldering his shotgun in lieu of her Uzi pistol.

“Aw, it’s past lunch?” Citrine giggled.

She fired in the direction that Ruby directed her to. The bullet snagged one through the throat and tore into the back leg of the one behind it. They both feel to the sand in a cloud of dust.

“Oh you’re a funny girl,” Ruby laughed. “Keep that up and you’re in for a spanking.”

She pumped the trigger on her Uzi, obliterating two of the closest creepers. Citrine ejected her magazine and slapped a fresh one home before going back to it.

“Hurt me, mommy.” She chided.

Amethyst and Emerald hunkered in a group behind a discarded SUV. The windows were surprisingly still intact. When she tried the handle, she wasn’t surprised to find it didn’t open. Quickly, she started working the long tumbler pick and pin in the lock.

Emerald was stunned for a moment at the kobold’s ingenuity. If they did it properly, they could hide out in the back of the SUV until the trouble passed.

A gurgling sound drew closer and Emerald turned in enough time to see a creeper slink in between the cars but not in enough time to stop it. It was on them in a second, slapping the gun out of Emerald’s hand. Then its face disappeared in a flash of crusty gore.

“Pay attention!”

Sapphire stood on the road, holding her smoking pistol at the ready; he could see the disappointment in her eyes to the point that he was forced to look away out of shame. He picked up his gun again, this time doing a better job of concentrating.

“That was a close one.” Amethyst joked; she could tell that he was upset. “Don’t sweat it, I fuck up all the time, everyone’s used to it.”

Before he could respond, there was click from inside the door. The lock was ruined now, but at least they’d have some form of security. Amethyst threw the door open and whistled in the same fluttering fashion as before, shoving Emerald inside.

“Yellow.” Ruby cawed.

Her voice sounding like a bird, and Citrine started moving towards Amethyst and the SUV.

“Red.” Sapphire screeched.

Her voice mimicking a different bird’s tone and once Ruby fired the last bullet in her pistol; she begrudgingly retreated towards the SUV, climbing in the back once she made it.

Sapphire pulled the pin on a flash grenade and tossed it a few feet down the road. Once it popped, all the other creepers veered towards the sound at full pace. She crouched down and hurried towards the rest of her group. Amethyst was already in the back when Sapphire reached it. She climbed in and quietly shut the door behind them.

They all huddled in the darkness trying to be as quiet as possible, in spite of all their heavy panting. Emerald felt a warm hand slide up and grip his collar tightly. Sapphire pulled him close enough so he could smell her sweaty scent.

“Next time I give you an order; you follow it to the letter. Do you understand?”

“I-”

“It was my fault.” Amethyst whispered and cleared her throat. “I wanted him to see me pick the lock. I did it.”

“What? You know better.”

“I guess I just wanted to impress him that’s all.”

“I knew it.” Ruby whispered to Citrine.

“Amy, this is not a dat. This is life or death, I…I don’t even know what to say about this.” Sapphire hissed, gripping the side of her head.

“I have an idea. How about you all shut up and let the creepers get some distance between us and them before we have a fucking lecture-a-thon, ya dig?” Ruby snapped.

Sapphire scoffed and lay back against the hot wall of the SUV. As much as she hated to admit it, Ruby was right. This would just have to wait until later. Sapphire watched as the other four stretched out, getting as comfortable as they could amidst the clutter in the back of the vehicle. There was no telling how long they were going to be stuck here in the burning heat.


	7. The Growing Tide

Emerald settled back against the shell of an old Volkswagen Beetle. His legs had never hurt so badly in his life. His skin was hot and sweat poured off of him like a million faucets running at the same time. He’d foolishly finished off his canteen sometime in the morning and now was left with nothing.

The night had been far from restful too. Between the elevated temperature in the back of that SUV and the sound of those creatures moving around outside all night, it made it hard to round up more than a few decent hours of sleep. Hopefully Milton’s was all it was cracked up to be. That is if he could survive the last hour or so trek there.

“Here.” Amethyst passed a canteen to him.

Emerald took it and offered a ‘thanks’ but his throat was too dry to get it out fully. When he tipped the bottle back, he was surprised how refreshing the warm water could taste. In the back of his mind, a voice reminded himself to be courteous and not drink it all. He rested his wrist on his knees, the weight of the canteen felt heavier than it should. The heat was surely getting to him.

“Thank you,” This time his soft voice came out clear. “And…thank you for yesterday, you practically saved my life. I certainly don’t want to seem like a burden.”

Amethyst gave a sarcastic scoff. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not like you owe me or anything.”

He stared at her with wide eyes before sighing. “I have nothing to pay you back.”

“Dude, I’m just fucking with you.” Amethyst giggled. “Yeah, you don’t owe me anything. I just wanted to help you out.”

“It’s because you want to ‘ride me like a wild mustang’ as Ruby referred to it, right?” He raised an eyebrow.

Amethyst blushed brightly. “No!”

Emerald smirked and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Now, I’m the one fucking with you.”

Amethyst’s face grew redder but not from a blush. “I know!”

Emerald watched her cap her canteen and hurry away in a crouching jaunt. Emerald started to follow, feeling an uneasy roll in his stomach. Had he taken the joke too far? All of this was still very new to him. He liked Amethyst, he rather liked them all. Many of the kobolds he’d met in his life were like him, scared little creatures in a laboratory facility. They were all book smart but none of them had any real life experience.

He slowed and looked at Amethyst who was now joining Ruby and Citrine at the front. The way they looked at each other, the smiles they had, even the teasing was all very real. Something that Emerald could never learn from a computer or a book.

“They are pretty remarkable, aren’t they?” Sapphire whispered; her sudden appearance frightened him to fall down on the sandy road.

“Oh…man, you’re so quiet when you move.”

“You will be too before we’re all done with this.” Sapphire took his hand and pulled him back into a crouch.

The pair of them started moving along the road, picking up pace between the cars so they didn’t lose their coverage. Ruby and Citrine went, then Amethyst did and as soon as Emerald and Sapphire made it to the next car, Ruby and Citrine were off again. As if it was a stealthy game of leap frog.

“How did you know what I was thinking back there?” Emerald asked as they crept along a car before darting to another one.

“Intuition. If there’s one thing I have a lot of, it’s that. You look at them as though they’re more precious than gold, guns, or water.”

“They are.” His tone slipped to a whisper, a dreamy smile found his lips.

“That they are.” Sapphire said.

She gripped the collar of his shirt and slammed him up against a car in a surprising move that hitched the breath in his throat.

“That’s why I won’t let you hurt them.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“I know only one thing about you, you’re a thief and that puts you in the dangerous category. My job, my life is to protect my family.” She said.

Sapphire let him go before putting a finger in his face. Her dark claw pressed into his snout and he made no attempt to move.

“If you’re leading us into a trap, I will skin you alive and make boots out of your hide.”

“Is there a problem?” Ruby asked.

She move back so quickly and quietly that even Sapphire was put off by her approach. Her blue eyes slipped down to Ruby’s hand that rested on her pistol, the strap was undone.

“No.” Sapphire shook her head.

“He didn’t try anything?”

“No, I was just reminding him what’s at stake.” Sapphire said before darting away to catch up to the others.

Once she was gone, Ruby gripped Emerald’s arm. He was surprised to find her hand was gentle.

“You alright, kiddo?”

“Yeah.” He whispered.

“Sapphire is, well, she’s very mothering to us all, so if she comes off as a bitch, it’s just because she cares. Try not to take it to heart.” Ruby explained.

“I’ll try not to.” Emerald sighed. “I don’t think she likes me at all.”

Ruby laughed. “I don’t think she likes me either.”

They both shared a smile before Ruby gestured for him to join the others. When he did, she gave his backside a playful slap, sending him off in a crouched run before following behind him.

***

Ruby kept watch at the back, as Sapphire lead from the front. The tower loomed over them, blotting out the sun’s dull glow from behind the clouds. It gave them a small semblance of relief from the sun’s heat. They were getting into dangerous territory. The closer to towns they got, the more creeper activity there was. They’d bunch up and milled around the shadowed areas for the same reason the kobolds did now.

“What do you see?”

Citrine reached down and gripped Ruby’s muzzle to hush her nagging while she scoped the area with her rifle. Ruby snorted and slapped the hand away.

“Don’t hold my mouth-”

Citrine leaned away from her scope and covered her lips with a finger. “Shh!” The she gestured towards the other side of the rock they were hiding behind.

Ruby nodded and slowly sidled around to spy a group of scavenging creepers. There were six in total and the boney creatures were picking over some sun-bleached bones left in the sand. The crackling sound of the skin as they moved caused a knot to form in Ruby’s stomach. The earthy smell of decayed flesh and hot garbage didn’t help either.

Sapphire drew her combat knife and moved to join her. Ruby looked at her and nodded. She placed a finger to her own eye, and then held up six fingers. Then she gestured around the car. After that her motions grew a little more sporadic. The grabby claws and the lolled tongue out of the corner of her mouth was a nice touch. Sapphire was forced to pinch her muzzle to keep from laughing.

Ruby smirked at her own handy work and winked at her. Almost immediately, her demeanor changed to her game face. She drew her combat knife from her boot. Citrine moved into position with her machete drawn. She was the heavy hitter if everything went to shit. Amethyst pulled a homemade shiv from the sheath on her back, passing it to Emerald who just looked at it.

“Just in case,” Amethyst whispered against his cheek as she passed by.

The purple kobold slipped a utility hatchet from the holder on her thigh and unfolding. It looked more like a stubby fire axe in her hand.

Ruby waited until everyone was in position before getting ready. When she stepped out, the blade sunk silently in the closest one’s head. Another turned to face her movement, but she stepped down on its long neck, pinching off its ability to scream. Sapphire dispatched it by plunging her knife into the hollows of its eye socket.

Two down and the other four were wise to the silent attack moving in on them. Amethyst sidled out and with a hard swing, cleaved one of them in the face. The force behind her swing toppled her onto the ground. Citrine crouched over the chubby kobold protecting her as she regained her composure. The yellow kobold gave a quick slash, dropping the closest one before moving to give the Amethyst room to move.

The one that remained reared its head back to screech but was silence by the flash of something green. Emerald had slid across the crumbled hood of the car to plunge his shiv into the side of the creeper’s head. He knelt over top of the dead thing, pinning it to the ground with shaky hands.

The other four kobolds stared in amazement at his brash assistance. The lost moment cost them dearly though. A missed creeper a few feet away noticed them and squealed its warning cry into the air. The shaded area burst to life and was all moving towards the one who called for assistance.

“Fuck!” Amethyst grunted.

She silenced the last one with her hatchet but it was too late, the horde was coming and there was still too much distance between them and the tower to make it before the wave of creepers were on them.

“Fuck, fuck…Run.”

Ruby grabbed Emerald and pushed him away from the creeper flock swarming. Amethyst ran up and grabbed the Uzi from Ruby’s belt to lay down cover fire so the other two could follow her. Ruby took her shotgun from her shoulder and went to cock it.

“Love of my life, if you cock the fucking gun and waste another shell, my last bullet will bury you.”

The moment of clarity in the Citrine’s voice echoed a cold revelation into Ruby’s mind. It was as if two existed in her mind; one that Ruby loved dearly and the other one that she was terrified of.

Citrine loaded her last round in her rifle and fired from the hip. The bullet tore through two of the creepers, dropping them into the sand. She shouldered her rifle in the next instant and drew her pistols.

“There are too many of them!” Sapphire screamed and ducked behind her companions.

They moved in a leap frog strafing pattern buying time for the last one to jump to the front. Emerald always stayed close. When one of the girls emptied their guns, they’d drop it into his lap and he quickly reloaded it and passed it back. Still, the circle was closing and the inevitable was drawing near.

They couldn’t make a run for the tower because of the field of creepers that lay between them and there was nothing behind them that could offer them refuge from this many of them. This was where their grave would be but their epitaph would be a mountain of creeper bodies they took out first.

“Fuck!”

Ruby fell back, her back slamming against a car behind her. A creeper had her pinned and was close enough to bite into her. Sapphire turned her pistol upon the creature but froze in horror at what she saw.

The creeper hesitated. Its pale dead eyes shifted and studied Ruby with an abhorrent fascination. It just inhaled whatever scent it could trace on the kobold and then turned its attack on the others.

“What the…” Sapphire muttered.

Then the creature’s head disappear from its neck. Emerald sat on the ground clutching the Peacemaker in his hands, azure smoke rolled from the barrel. Sapphire turned and snatched the gun away from him. Her face bent in anger but the thundering horde was the bigger problem at hand. She raised the gun and fired into the crowd.

“Ruby?”

Citrine crouched next to her. The red kobold was visibly shaken to the point she couldn’t move. Her eyes were wide open and her pupils were drawn so taut the slits almost disappeared.

“Ruby’s out!” Amethyst called.

She dropped the Uzi into Emerald’s lap before picked up two handguns. He didn’t miss a beat working to get the gun reloaded. They were running out of ammo fast and the already hopeless situation was only growing more hopeless.

“Emerald, we need you up here.” Sapphire ordered.

The green kobold took the Uzi and got into position next to Amethyst.

“You’re gonna use that?” Sapphire asked.

He looked at it and nodded nervously. His mind told him, it was small like a pistol, how much different could it be? The look in Sapphire’s eyes, however, filled him with concern.

“Alright then, use short bursts. Your aim is shit, so take out the closest ones first.” She ordered.

“We can’t keep this up forever.” Citrine hugged Ruby close with one arm, her other hand firing into the closing crowd.

“Goddammit!” Sapphire growled.

She pulled a flare gun from her belt and fired it into the air. Instead of the glowing burst that most flares do, this one exploded like a firework. The green and blue embers raining down on the battlefield but nothing happened. The creatures were still closing in and their ammo was radically depleting.

“That was pretty and all but what the fuck was that, Sappy?” Amethyst asked.

She dropped her handgun in the open ammo bag and pulled out her snub nose revolver from her boot.

“Come on you mother fucker!” Sapphire screamed at the top of her voice.

That’s when it happened. All the sound left the world. It fell away to the sound of whistling growing closer and closer like the great bomb itself. When it hit, a cloud of dust kicked up like a shockwave.

The earth shook around them. Both Amethyst and Emerald were toppled to the ground. Then the sound returned to the world and it was filled with the hissing bellows of fire and the death throe screeching of creepers as they were incinerated. Sapphire stood and watched the carnage with a large smile on her face.

In the center of it all was a large metal titan. As if by some act of god the metal golem was summoned to save them. The rattling of mini guns tore through the ones out of reach of its flamethrowers. The bullet belts dance and bounced as it sent the creepers scattering in every direction.

When the dust and smoke cleared, all that was left was titan and a mound of chard creepers. The whirring gears inside the machine echoed inside as it turned towards the kobolds. There was a strutting stride in the way it walked. One robotic hand gripping the none-existent belt at its waist as it tipped its hat in the fashion of a cowboy from an old western movie.

“Took your own sweet fucking time, doncha think?” Sapphire’s smiled softly.

Its giant hands reached up and pulled its head off to reveal a cockpit within. Inside sat a feminine looking goblin. Its long ears were decorated with several golden earrings. There was even a hoop pierced in his long hooked nose. His hair was bleached and dyed lavender, though the black roots could still be seen, especially on the side of his head were he usually kept it cut short. One of his eyes glowed excitedly with a red tint. The other was covered by a control monocle. When he pulled it off, a deep brown iris looked over the five kobolds. A smile kinked his thick lips.

“My apologies, I was enjoying the show from my ivory tower.” His pitched voice chided as he gestured to the great construct towering behind him. “And…for the last time, Sappy, that’s Mr. Mother Fucker to you.”

“Sometime Milton, I don’t even know why I bother.” Sapphire holstered her Peacemaker.

“Because I promised David I’d take care of your sorry ass. So you’re stuck with me, kid.”

At the mention of the name, the other kobolds looked at each other and then her. The grim look on her face told them more than she’d ever mentioned before and now they knew their suspicions were correct about her and she hated that fact.


	8. Modern Sodom and Gomorrah

The automaton suit of armor was impressive to say the least. For the hour long walk to the tower, Milton, the goblin in the suit, was more than happy to carry them. It was a spectacular change of pace, even if the metal was uncomfortably hot. The large clanking of iron feet in the sand worked against the creeper’s natural need to hunt and feed. For creatures that had been reduced to the primordial needs, they were smart enough to know their limitation and the suit and it’s wearing were no easy target, no matter how many of them there were.

            With the exception of Sapphire and Milton talking, no one said anything. Amethyst sat perched on Milton’s shoulder; she was lost in in thoughts of what happened with Ruby and even if it was cause for a alarm; her mind was focused on who David was and how did this strange goblin know Sapphire?

 Ruby still looked physically shaken by what transpired. Citrine did what she could to sooth her. Emerald concerned himself with what happened; he stared at Ruby and pined over what would cause the creature to halt his attack like that. Never before has any creeper let its prey live.

“Just sit tight; I’ll have you back at my place in no time.” Milton’s voice echoed inside of the large metal helmet. “Grau, lower the freight elevator.”

A crackling voice could be heard through the metal but whatever they were saying was indistinguishable. Sapphire leaned closed and pressed her ear against the metal to hear if she could decipher it.

“Send a base squad for clearing.” Milton answered back. “No, just me, the suit, and five kobolds,” The goblin laughed. “That’s right, five kobolds. It’s Mercka Squad and a spare.”

The crackling burst into an array of ramblings that Sapphire still couldn’t make out. Then there was a long pause. Milton pulled the helmet off and clipped it onto the giant iron hook on his hip. Sweat ran rivulets down his face. Sapphire nearly tumbled into the cockpit because she was leaning so close.

“Greenie there, he’s not your son is he?” The red eye lolled separately from his natural eye.

“No.” Sapphire snapped. “How old do you think I am?”

“I don’t know; it’s not like I’m an expert on kobold genealogy. For all I know, you plopped out a whole kobold.” Milton pressed a button on the dash of his suit. “Nah, not her kid, uh huh, alright I’ll let them know.”

“When we get inside, Blu, you have to come with me.” Milton smirked.

“Business I suppose?”

“Rescuing ain’t cheap. You know that.” Milton snickered.

“And my team?”

“Greenie will be taken for processing.” Milton’s red eye scanned Emerald, who tensed at the notion of being separated.

“I’m to be taken away?”

“Everyone has to do it, you’re not special.” The goblin snickered.

“I’ll go with him.” Amethyst said.

“Suit yourself; the rest will be escorted to your rooms until I clear everyone. It shouldn’t take that long.” Milton walked up on the hood of a car, smashing it further into the sand.

A loud whirring sound could be heard over the more quiet gear grinding inside the machine. Sapphire pointed at a large metal freight panel being lowered into the sand. A score of armed and armored soldiers billowed wide plumes of fire at the gathered creepers. The ones that caught were incinerated immediately; the ones further back screech their warnings and bolted away before they were consumed by the devil’s belch.

“Controlled bursts, Grau, gas doesn’t grow on trees.” Milton called through his headpiece.

A large soldier with hunched shoulders grunted and slammed a fist to his ratty looking Kevlar chest piece. Emerald tightened up and pointed, whispering something to Amethyst that Sapphire couldn’t hear, though thanks to the over annunciation of his words, it was easy to read his lips.

“Is that a Gnoll?”

“Yeah, he’s my captain!” Milton called back.

“I thought they were extinct.” Sapphire’s eyes went wide.

“Nah, we got three of them and two on the way!”

“Pregnant with all the radiation poisoning, are you sure?”

Milton’s lips curled in a beautiful smile. “The gods find a way, don’t they?”

“I’ll be a…” Sapphire sat back lazily on the shoulder of the automaton, gripping her chest dreamily.

“Come ladies…and pipsqueak. Welcome to our modern day Sodom and Gamorrah, try to have fun.”

Milton stomped onto the platform among the charred red carpet his men laid out for him. One by one his men filed in around him and the platform ascended into the iron heaven of Milton’s place.

 ***

 The armored Gnoll, Grau, was silent as he marched Sapphire through the fairer parts of Milton’s Haven. The frayed carpet looked remarkably clean and unhampered by sand and grime that seemed to make it way around the world. The wooden wall panels were polished and smelled of cleaning chemicals. Even the wallpaper looked fantastic despite some patches that were torn or missing altogether. Most of the doors on either side of the hall were closed, with red stockings tied on the handles. The implication was enough to make her face warm. This was, after all, the type of place were credits could buy anything and everything.

When they reached the end of the hall, Grau pushed the call button and stood quietly with his hands behind his back. After the first few thumps of headboards against the walls and the over exaggerated moans. Sapphire rubbed the back of her neck, her face glowing brightly. Grau snickered inside of his helmet and politely covering the kobold’s ears with his middle finger and thumb. She gave him a thumb up and they stood that way, awkwardly, as they waited for the elevator.

I couldn’t have arrived any sooner. She’d climbed in, never so happy to be in such small confines in her life. Once the doors were closed and they started ascending. Grau released her head and went back to standing stoically.

“I get what you’re saying, Brock, but you need to listen to me now. I hired you, gave you a nice suite on the executive floor, I pay you well, and your happy right? Well, then you need to do your fucking job and keep those generators in working order.”

Sapphire could hear Milton hard at work even before the elevator door open. He was talking on the phone, pacing around the room in nothing more than a pair of raggedy boxer shorts and a girdle.

Grau motioned for Sapphire to sit in a comfy chair that threatened to swallow her up. He politely poured her a glass of ice water and handed it to her. It wasn’t until that moment that Sapphire realized she was thirsty. It took no time at all to down the glass. Grau snickered inside of his gasmask and refilled the glass for her without her even asking.

“Thank you,” She whispered and took little sips this time.

“You have a whole sweeper team at your disposal. They are trained professional scavengers. If you need something, give them orders, and they’ll do it.” Milton rested his hand on the edge of the desk, hanging his head.

Sapphire got up and took a cloth napkin from the drink cart nearby. She held it out to Milton, who looked up at her with a surprised smile on his face.

“Thanks, babe.”

He took the napkin and dabbed his sweaty face before folding it over and setting it aside.

It had been many years, since before David died, that she’d seen Milton or this haven he built. It was killing him slowly, she could tell. There were lines and curves on his face that weren’t there last time she saw him. The fact that he was dying his hair now was definitely a telltale sign that it was making him older before his time.

“You know what, Brock? I don’t give a shit if Cteve doesn’t like you. I don’t fucking like you either but you’re still going to do your goddamn job or I’m going to load you in one of my artillery guns and blow your fucking corpse all over this dumb-dick dead planet. Does that compute?”

Milton squeezed the phone so hard; Sapphire could hear the creaking plastic threatening to snap. Then at once, his demeanor changed. He had a smile like a fairy cat and a glimmer in his good eye.

“Good, daddy loves you, thanks.” He chimed in, then in the next instant he slammed the old phone down in its cradle. “I can’t believe I ever gave birth to that little shit stain.”

Sapphire tensed. “Brock giving you troubles again?”

“You know how kids are.” Milton stepped around his desk and flopped down in his chair. “Grau, sweetie, you can take your mask off now.”

The Gnoll unsnapped his helmet pulling it and the mask off. His hyena face was smoother looking that most Gnolls she’d seen. He was most likely and adolescent; it was easy to guess because he wasn’t even seven feet in height yet. His amber Mohawk and heckle were well groomed, even his sideburns were trimmed. There was a small scar on his right cheek but he was still impressive to look at.

“That’s my beautiful man!” Milton pointed to his cheek and the large Gnoll gave a wide tongue lick up the entire side of his face and head. “Ugh, use your lips, man, your lips.”

Sapphire lost herself and started laughing before she quickly recovered with a jutting snort that racked her whole body. Milton smirked at the kobold’s sweet noise as he wiped his face off with the napkin she’d provided.

“Shit, I haven’t heard you laugh like that in a long time.”

He smiled at her and she was forced to smile back, gratefully. There was warmth of familiarity between them that felt unusual but good.

 “Not much to laugh about since David died.” Sapphire sighed.

“Fucking shame that was,” Milton pulled a crystal decanter and three glasses from his bottom drawer, laying them out in a line. “I miss him so much.”

“Yeah, I see the girdle he gave you is still in working order.” Sapphire smiled.

She watched him poured her a crystal clear drink, though she could already smell that it something quite a bit stronger that water.

“Best gift anyone ever gave me, a godlike artifact for a god like me, to fix a god’s mistake.” Milton tipped the glass back and swallowed loudly.

“Too bad it didn’t give you a dick the size of your ego, huh?”

“Hey, it gets the job done, doesn’t it big boy?” Milton slapped the Gnoll on the thigh.

The Gnoll said something, his voice crackled like the sound she’d hear from inside the helmet. Sapphire jolted, nearly dropping her glass of booze.

“Holy shit, that was his real voice I heard over the radio.” Sapphire didn’t realize she’d even spoke.

“Yup!” Milton snickered and smoothed the camo fabric on the Gnoll’s thigh. “Please speak common for our ignorant friend here.”

“Certainly.” The Gnoll’s voice was jarringly deep and mellow sounding for a creature that looked at menacing as he was. “I’m going to retire to our room for a bath.”

“Yeah, sure sure…bend down and turn around first.”

Milton gestured with his index finger and the Gnoll did as he was asked. Milton gave a firm slap on his butt.

Sapphire watched as Grau moved as if the force of the slap sent him flying. They were both laughing and sharing sweet glances that immediately swelled jealousy in her stomach. These jokes were so reminiscent of the ones she and David played behind closed doors.

“So you and Grau are…”

“Yes and no. I share him with two female Gnolls. They’re directly down stairs in executive suites if you want to meet them, they’re lovely girls. I was concerned that they would abuse him because he’s young but they treat him…better than I do.” Milton’s smile faded as he poured himself another drink.

“I know it’s hard to let people get close.” Sapphire chewed on one of her claws.

“Yeah, first it was Grizhock, then Marni, and David. Now it’s just you and me, we’re all that’s left of the old days.” Milton slammed back another drink and set the glass quietly on his worn oak desk.

“Do you think I rushed things with David?”

“Yeah, Marni hadn’t been dead a month before you tried to fill that slot.”

Milton’s words cut deeply and he knew it too. His red eye didn’t stray from the cool gaze from the kobold.

“But I suppose that’s how David was.” He mused. “Came on to me once, that’s the real reason he got the girdle for me, didn’t want to make the same mistake twice, I suppose.”

“You know that’s not true.” Sapphire shattered the glass in her hand, wincing at the feeling of the shards stabbing her hand.

The two of them sat quietly with their thoughts. Sapphire looked down at her hand, pulling the two larger shards that managed to slip between the softer scales. They seeped with a thick purple blood but it wasn’t as bad as it felt. Milton offered her the napkin and she wrapped her hand in it. It had been a long time since she’d bled. Until Milton’s cutting comment, nothing ever got close enough to cause her pain both physically and emotionally.

It wasn’t until the clank of crystal on crystal that brought Sapphire back. Milton was pouring himself another drink. He fished a tablet out of his desk drawer laying it on the table.

“I guess since pleasantries are over, we should get down to business.” There was something almost coarsely chiding about the goblin’s tone now. “First things first, the rescue is going to cost you ten! No arguing or haggling.”

“Ten thousand?!” Sapphire screamed, wishing she still had her drink to throw in his face.

“You knew the cost when you fired off that flare. Running that rig is expensive and since I’m the only one that can run the goddamn thing, my prices is high.”

“We would have died!”

“But you didn’t and now it’s time to pay the fiddler.”

“We were friends once, party members, doesn’t that count for anything?” Sapphire felt her neck growing tight and her shoulders tensing once again.

“Yeah, tough shit about that but this is a business, not a nursery school.” He shoulded.\

He was out of his seat but the awkward feeling of barely being tall enough to see over his desk ruined the posturing.

“I hate this fucking desk.”

Sapphire laughed again, though she hated that she did. In truth, she wanted to be infuriated with Milton but knew that he was right. They’d made that deal a long time ago and she’d even signed the contract.

“Fine, you fucking vulture.” She said.

Sapphire dug her credit card from her hip pouch. He may be right but Sapphire didn’t have to be nice about it.

Milton pressed the card against his tablet; a soft chime filled the quiet office. Then he passed it back to her. They didn’t need to discuss what happened next. She pressed her thumb to the pad until it turned green and then she passed it back.

“It’s only credits, what do you need the money for anyway.” Milton scoffed.

“I was going to use the money from this recent job to buy David’s house back and Billy and I were going to be a family again.” Sapphire growled.

She hopped up in one of the chairs across from the desk. Milton did the same, lying back in his frayed leather chair, staring at her.

“Ah shit, Billy. I haven’t seen him in near ten years. He’s almost a man now?”

“He’s sixteen and still the sweetest boy ever.” Sapphire said, fighting the lump forming in her throat.

“Alright, I can’t refund you the ten but…here’s what I’ll do. Your room and board are free. That includes everything except for the water fee, that’s pay to use.” He passed a strange looking red credit card across the desk. “Give this to any food vendor and they’ll charge me the bill.”

“What about ammo and restocking supplies?” Sapphire took the card.

“I ah…” The goblin pursed his lips and punched a few things on his tablet. “Twenty percent off, that’s the best I can do. I’m already going to be losing a fortune just by having you here.”

Sapphire looked at the card and smiled. “Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t spread it around.”

Sapphire got up from chair and started towards the elevator that brought her here. The goblin cleared his throat, bringing her back around to look at him. He was leaning on his elbow with a cheek pressed to his knuckles.

“The green one, what’s his story. He doesn’t look like much of a kobold.”

Milton’s red eye scanned her as she prepared to answer. Sapphire knew that she couldn’t lie to Milton as long as the infrared eye was on her.

“He’s our job. He stole something from an orc and I’m tasked to return him to Walter’s Haven.” She said.

“Did you know you’re going the wrong way?”

“That’s the trick, isn’t it? This thing he stole contains information on a hidden active elven facility that’s doing experiments.” Sapphire tried to pick carefully what she said.

“What kind of experiments?”

“I don’t know but there are hundreds of living specimens of every race there. Kobolds, Orcs, Goblins, maybe even some Gnolls.”

“I want to review those documents.” Milton’s eyes narrowed as he climbed down and came to meet her. “They could be incredibly helpful to everyone.”

“Fine, that’ll be ten thousand credits then.” Sapphire held out her hand.

Milton laughed and took her hand with a mighty shake. “You fucking bitch!”

“And I get to look at the information with you.”

“Deal, I’ll send for you and your squad tonight. We’ll meet in one of the conference rooms. I’ll pay you then.” Milton couldn’t lose his smile after being played so easily.

“Will there be food.”

“Do you not know me at all?” Milton laughed. “Now get out of here, I have a wet and naked Gnoll to tend too.”

“Ew…I mean oh!” Sapphire hurried towards the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. “How does…anyone storm out of here when they’re pissed?”

“They usually push the button before they start arguing, then they hold the door until the pinnacle moment to leave on.”

“Seems-”

“No, it’s just annoying and really dulls the effect of storming out. I might put a wall in that separates the room from the elevator.” Milton explained.

“Oh, that would be nice.” Sapphire cocked her head.

“Yeah, maybe take some of the molding from the lower floors for the walls. It’ll look nice.”

There was a soft ding and the doors opened, finally. “Oh yes, that would be – oh well, I’ll see you later.”

The doors closed after she stepped inside. She reached for the panel and paused for a moment. She didn’t know what floor the rest of her group was on. In Milton’s Haven, there were so many people that finding them would be next to an impossible task.

“They’re on floor fourteen, room 1406.” She could hear Milton calling through the door as she pushed the button.

“Thank you.” The elevator started to descend and she wasn’t sure if Milton heard her or not but it was too late, she was already on her way to rendezvous with her friend.


	9. Den of Thieves

Neon lights and wall to wall humanoids as far as the eye could see. There were shops and eateries of all kinds. Sweaty bodies, dusty clothes, and the smell of searing beef made for a particularly noxious smell. Still, Citrine and Ruby had smelled worse.

They struggled to move through the crowd of bodies but once they reached the wall, they had an easier time. The merchants that could afford to own shops lined the walls; they were the more expensive venues, so not much foot traffic in them. The stands and item carts that lined the walkways were where all the deals happened and that’s where they were trying to get too.

“Kobolds?” A very tall and very thin elf commented, his long face shimmered like polished leather in the sun. “I’ve not see any of your kind in, well, years.”

“Lucky for you, I charge admission to gawk.” Ruby smirked.

Citrine giggled and clung to her, happy to have her back to her old self. The elf on the other hand, fished a credit card out of his pocket and held it out to her. Ruby was the one left staring now, first at the card and then at the elf holding it.

“Dude, I was joking.”

“Makes no difference to me, little one, I’ll gladly pay ten credits each for a picture of you two.” The elf said pulling a table from a shelf under his stand.

“Really?” Citrine giggled.

She pulled out a small oblong device, swiping card with a satisfying blip that was nearly lost amongst the noise. Ruby waited until the merchant reset the card before handing it to her to swipe.

“Alright, now get closer together.” He said angling the tablet up, centering the picture. “Good, now you, the yellow one, kiss her neck.”

Citrine did as she was instructed, pressing her lips to Ruby’s neck. She was surprised to feel the red kobold shiver at the feeling. The elf nodded and scooped in to take Ruby’s hand and place it on Citrine’s hip.

“Good, good, this is excellent. Lidded eyes ladies and…” There was a dull flash and the picture was done.  “Beautiful.”

“Thanks for the business, chump.” Ruby giggled as they started away, hand in hand with Citrine.

“You know,” The elf smirked and ran his fingers through his greasy hair. “I have a hundred more credits for each of you.”

“Oh?” Citrine turned and looked at him.

“All you gotta do is let me film you two.”

Ruby was already well aware of where this was going but Citrine pressed the issue. “Just film us? You want us to do jumping jacks or something?”

The elf pressed the tablet between his hands and pointed at the two of them. “Or wrestling, just a thought.”

“Aw, I love wrestling with my Ruby.” Citrine flopped on Ruby that didn’t flinch to the extra weight. “Let’s do it!”

“We’re not doing it, City. He just wants to film us having sex, doncha Perverts McGee?” Ruby smirked up at the guy.

His sharp eyebrows turned to straight lines above his pale blue eyes. His already thin lips drew thinner to the point of nearly disappearing.

“Alright, alright, so you caught me but this is really good business sense. I film rare breeds, such as your selves, and sell them to the highest bidder. It’s a win/win for everyone. What do you say to two hundred creds?” The elf seemed desperate.

“No thanks,” Ruby said firmly. “I appreciate the offer but what me and my girlfriend do behind closed doors is private. Your freaky customers will just have to keep imaging.”

Ruby pulled Citrine away from the stand. As they disappeared into the crowd, they could hear the elf calling after them to come back.

***

Amethyst sat on the bed next to Emerald who was still trembling and clutching his arm. Getting to their room had been a haze of panic mixed with concern. Now that they were finally locked away in the safe confines of the hotel room, she really had a chance to analyze what was going on.

They’d been sent to the processing area. All new arrivals to Milton’s Haven had to check in, that’s the rules. They took down Emerald’s information as well as a picture of him and his fingerprints. That all seemed to be good.

It wasn’t until the closer examinations that the Emerald started to have a panic attack. They took his height, weight, and temperature. When they started taking a urine sample for drug testing and drawing his blood that was when the he freaked out.

Amethyst was the only one that could get close enough to calm him down. They drew his blood quickly after that and sent him off in her care.

Now that they were in the safety of the room, she poured him a glass of ice water and set it on the nightstand where he could reach it before taking a seat next to him.

“Care to talk about it, Em?”

“I don’t like needles; I don’t like those kinds of tests.” He said.

 Emerald took up his glass and drank all of the water in one go. An uncomfortable look washed over his face and he gripped his stomach. He puffed a burp and relaxed again, setting the glass down.

“Is it because of the laboratory?” Amethyst asked a moment later.

His green eyes met hers and he didn’t have to say anything. Amethyst already knew the answer, knew it before she even asked the question to be honest.

“You’re safe now. Those men got everything they needed from you, there’ll be no more test from here on out.” Amethyst kept her voice calm, trying to make him feel better.

“Thank you, I’m just sorry you had to see me react that way. Please don’t tell the others.” Emerald said, shifting to prop himself up on a pillow.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re all scared of things.”

Softly she rested her hand on his hip. The crisp denim felt unreal to her. She’d never seen a new pair of pants in her life, no less blue jeans. It was such a weird thought to be having, while they were in such a deep conversation. It was then that she felt his eyes upon her. When she looked at him; Emerald quickly averted his gaze.

“What are you scared of?” He asked.

“Being stupid and having those close to me think I’m worthless.”

“Why would anyone think that?” Emerald shifted to level their gazes.

“I guess I brought it on myself for no-”

Amethyst stopped talking when she heard the ding from the door lock. Sapphire came in, pausing in the doorway when she saw the two of them on the bed.

“If what is happening in here is happening, it better not be.” She said coolly.

Amethyst slipped down from the bed and rubbed the smooth scales at the back of her neck.

“Nothing’s happening, we’re just talking.”

“I got a little overwhelmed at processing and she was talking me down.” Emerald said, lying back on the bed.

“Yeah, I wish I’d warned you, processing can be quite a problem. I trust everything went well, though?” Sapphire asked.

“Not so well during the process but everything’s fine now.” Amethyst crossed her arms and glanced back at Emerald. “I was just about to pay for Emerald to have a relaxing bath while I get him some fresh clothes.”

“That’s really sweet of you.” Sapphire smiled. “I have to find Ruby and Citrine anyway, so I’ll pick you up some clothes while I’m down there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, stay here and keep him company but not-”

“Too much company, I got it.” Amethyst giggled, though the blush on her cheeks betrayed her.

“What size do you wear, Em?”

“Halfling Small, I believe.”

“Alright, I think I can remember that.” She said, taking a mental note. “After you get done in the bath, why don’t both of you go over the ammo and guns situation. Write down everything we need to do a proper restocking trip.”

“Aye aye, captain.” Amethyst gave a playful salute.

Sapphire saluted back. “And don’t screw it up, okay, Amethyst.”

The smile faded from Amethyst’s face. Emerald slipped off the bed to join her as they watched Sapphire slip into the hall, closing the door behind her as she went.

“See what I mean.” Amethyst said, visibly embarrassed.

Emerald lifted his arm to caress her back but felt his courage waning in the next instant. Before he could say anything, Amethyst walked towards the bathroom. He cursed his cowardice as he was forced to watch her go.

She turned the light on, filling the pale room with the dull glow of the fluorescent above. The bathroom itself wasn’t as spectacular as the rest of the room. It had a sink with a card scanner on it. A toilet with a card reader on it and there was a shower/tub that of course had a card reader on it. Everything that involved water cost extra money. Having it recycled and reused wasn’t a cheap venture considering the maintenance on the purifiers must get more expensive every year.

Amethyst stepped up to the card reader above the tub and pressed her card to it. There was a small LCD screen that lit up with a mugshot of her face on it.

“Welcome back, Amara Zen Tu’lor, aka Amethyst.” A sultry voice called to her. “It’s been six hundred and twenty-one days since your last visit. We’ve saved some of your specifications from your last visit, would you like them listed.”

“No, I’m good.” Amethyst groaned.

If hearing her full name said aloud wasn’t bad enough, the threat of having her shame flaunted before her cause her to cringe.

“That’s fine. I understand that you want to take a bath. Setting one, two, or three?”

“Two, please.”

“Just thinking about going for a soak, okay?” The voice confirmed as water started spouting from the faucet into the tub. “Would you like to try a customary scent?”

The screen lit up with twelve different colored buttons, each with a different scent. Amethyst shrugged and looked back at Emerald who was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head hung.

“Vanilla, I guess.”

“Vanilla, you guess. You got it.” The room was suddenly filled with the sweet, buttery scent of the vanilla.

“Not bad.” Amethyst smirked.

“You bet your boots, it is our number three most popular scent.” The voice from the LCD screen informed. “Now, let’s get down to business. Is this a sexy time bath? Don’t worry, we’re not watching, unless you want us too. Just kidding, we are happy to record your intimate moments for later watching. Just push the pink button and enjoy the show.”

“What the hell?” Amethyst cocked her head. “Obviously there’s been an upgrade since I was last here.”

“Lastly, let’s be honest. Raising a child in the butthole we call a world is expensive and dangerous. We at Milton’s Haven advise you to take precaution. Push the coinciding button for size and style of your prophylactic you’ll be enjoying.” The cheery tone lit a fire in Amethyst’s face.

She reached for the button marked ‘No’ and hesitated. What if, she paused on her thought and chewed at her bottom lip. She spared a glance back to Emerald, who hadn’t moved. Something fluttered in her belly.

With no knowledge beyond what she’d read and saw in magazines, she selected the best size she thought would best fit. A small packet slid out from the slot and she snatched it.

“Is the bath ready?” Emerald asked her from the doorway.

Amethyst jolted at the sound of Emerald’s voice, dropping the foil packet at her feet.

“You dropped something, I’ll-”

“I got it!”

Emerald politely swooped down as they both grabbed for it at the same time. They’re eyes met for a brief second. He could see something was up by the red tint in her cheeks.

He looked at the item in the gold foil packet and held it out to her. “Here’s your prophylactic.”

Amethyst grimaced as she took it. “Thanks.”

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, kudos for practicing safe sex.” Emerald chuckled warmly and helped her up. “Whoever they are is a very lucky fella.”

“No, it’s not like that at all. It was free, complimentary with the bath.” Amethyst giggled.

“Your card has been charged the three credits for the Eenie Meanie Prophylactic. Thanks for keeping the wasteland childless.”

“Shut up already!”

Amethyst’s opened her eyes widely as if she were on the verge of popping. She sighed heavily bringing them to heavy lids. She was starting to look feint.

“Okay, please take a look at any of our other product to better enhance your evening of passion. Just press accompaniment under the menu tab.” The LCD commented and went black.

“Thanks.”

Amethyst pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to avoid looking at Emerald. It sent and excited ripple through him as he felt his courage returning. He touched her shoulder with his soft hands and started to chuckle.

Amethyst finally opened her eyes and looked at him. It was easy for him to tell she was on the verge of crying.

“I made myself look stupid, didn’t I?” She asked.

“Yes.” He said frankly.

He rested his other hand on her shoulder, squaring them together.

“It doesn’t matter to me, though. You’ve seen me at my near worst and stuck by me. You even carried me back here when I was a bundle of nerves and couldn’t walk myself. There isn’t anything you could do to make me think less of you.” He whispered sweetly.

Amethyst chewed her bottom lip before lunging in to hug him. She could hear his breath leave his body in a gasp. His hesitation trembled throughout his thin body. Then he relaxed into the hug, his arms resting along the small of her back.

“I’ve never had a hug before.”

“Never?”

“No,” Emerald sighed against her neck as he was shorter than her. “Back at the facility, contact was not permitted between us. We were usually beaten and restrained if any attempt was made.”

“Well,” Amethyst pulled back to look at him. “I’ll hug you as often as you like and you won’t have to worry about being hit for it.”

“I don’t know; Sapphire seems as though she might hit.”

“That’s a good point; I might have to run this by her first.” Amethyst giggled, taking a step back. “Alright, I’m gonna stop all this sobbing affection and let you take a nice relaxing bath.”

Emerald nodded, slowly pulling his puffy vest off. “If you wanted to, you could bathe with me.”

Amethyst tensed up. “But-”

“Not like that,” Emerald smirked. “I’m not ready for that type of thing but I would much like your company, rather I don’t want to be alone.”

“Okay.” Amethyst nodded and slowly eased out of her sleeveless flak vest.

 ***

 “Milton said he’d call upon us when he was ready to discuss the documents.” Sapphire explained.

She shifted the heavy weight of the duffel bag on her shoulder.

“Wow, the nerve of that guy to charge you for saving our lives.” Ruby scoffed.

“I’m just glad that we get to eat whatever we want for free.” Citrine giggled. “I could kill for a sticky roll, right now.”

Citrine settled on carrying the lighter weight bag with all the clothes in it.

“You are a sticky roll.” Ruby laughed.

“Not yet but with enough coaxing.” Citrine purred as her and slid it to hip bump her.

“Oh my gods, you guys.” Sapphire smirked and unlocked the door.

The hotel room was filled with the smell of vanilla and the sound of echoed laughter coming from the bathroom. Sapphire instantly dropped her bag on the floor. Ruby barely got out of the way of being hit with it.

Sapphire gracefully leapt over one of the bed and grabbed the handle of the door in the same fluid motion. She threw it open and stopped abruptly in the door way.

What she saw in the tub made her experience several emotions one after another. It started with anger, then confusion, frustration, and ended on a strange motherly smile. Each were animated perfectly for the two frightened kobolds sitting in the tub surrounded by multicolored bubbles that had since run out on the floor, soaking their clothing and towels that lay on the floor.

“What the hell?” Ruby popped her head in the door.

“Oh my gods, bubbles!” Citrine squealed.

She had her shirt off and was already stepping out of her boots by the time she halved the distance.

Amethyst giggled. “Move, move, she’s coming!”

She pushed Emerald against the wall and huddled with him. Citrine barely had time to get her tattered panties off before she jumped in the tub, sloshing water all around. The LCD monitor came to life, flashing an overflow warning that they all ignored.

Ruby looked at Sapphire with her mouth gaping; she shrugged easily and smiled before slowly undoing the buttons on her military jacket.

“Come on in, it’ll be tight but I think we can fit you both.” Citrine said, pressing against Amethyst, who was in the middle of laughing fit.

“What the hell!” Ruby shrugged and started to take off her tank top.

It was then in her reflection that she noticed something different about herself. All of her hard won scars that she earned over her life were gone now as if they’d never existed. The realization stunned her to silence for a long moment. Slowly she lowered the hem of her worn tank top.

“What’s the hold up, are you coming or not?” Sapphire laughed as Citrine gave her a messy bushel of bubble hair.

“Nah, I’m…kinda tired. I’ll take a shower in a little bit. You all have fun.”

Ruby exited the room before anyone could ask her any questions. She closed the door behind her.

Citrine stared after her longingly. It was then something lit up in her eyes. Had she seen what she thought she saw? If so, was all of Ruby’s scars gone, how?


	10. Secrets

Ruby closed her eyes under the warm water of the shower. She could feel the weeks of grime rinsing off of her in tingling rivulets. The lingering generic scent of soap was heavy all around her. When she did open her eyes, it was strange to see her body now. The water coursing down the small scales that adhered to her abs. It moved over the gentle slope of her muscular hips. Even her arms looked different to her now.

When she woke up a few days ago, her body was covered with scars and now they were all gone. If that wasn’t enough of a thought to occupy her mind, then there was that thing, the creeper that pounced on her in the desert hesitated to kill her. Were they connected somehow? If so, what had changed so drastically in her life?

“Your time is up, thank you.” The LCD monitor reminded her.

The water shut off abruptly and she groaned. She slammed the red button on the screen and saw the LCD screen light up, reminding her that it was ten credits for another five minutes of hot water. Milton’s Haven may be a paradise among the shit piles but everything had a price. This shower had already cost her nearly a hundred credits already, maybe it was time she sucked it up and face the others.

When the water stopped; she could hear the other’s talking from the main room. She slid the plastic shower door open and stepped out into the bathroom, surprised to see Citrine waiting patiently for her.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were waiting for me.” Ruby  covered up quickly without making it obvious.

“Nah, I wasn’t. I just don’t get to see you fresh from the shower that much.” Citrine smiled.

“Was it everything you hoped for?”

“More.” Citrine whispered.

She pressed her muzzle against Ruby’s neck, her submissive gestures made the more dominate kobold giggle. Ruby caressed a finger along her cheek; the warm smell of vanilla was intoxicating.

“What do you want?” She asked.

“Something I can’t have until the meetings over.” Citrine pouted.

Ruby gave her a soft peck on the lips. “Then I’ll make the wait worth your while.”

“Can I have a preview at least?”

Citrine pulled the towel open and let her eyes wander the private confines of the Ruby’s body. Citrine’s amber eyes shifted up to meet with the wide Ruby’s wide crimson orbs.

“I thought I spied something different about you.” Citrine smiled a toothy grin. “Where did all your marks go?”

At first, Ruby was confused by how easy going she was being about such a dramatic change.

“I know right? They’re all gone. I know I had them when we left town and poof, they’re gone. And what about that shit that happened earlier.”

“With the creeper?” Citrine asked.

“Yeah.”

“I might have an explanation for both of those things.”

At the sound of Emerald’s voice, Ruby snatched the towel tightly around her again.

“Ever head of knocking four-eyes?”

“My apologies,” Emerald covered his eyes. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”

“Eaves dropping, more like it.”

“Let’s hear him out, hon.” Citrine cooed at her.

“As you are well aware, the creepers in the tunnels are still radiated and very infectious. It’s an illness that when in reaches the fourth stage is highly contagious to those around you. It’s not much different than an exceeding aggressive cancer.” Emerald started to explain.

He perched on the edge of the toilet seat with his eyes still covered.

“News to me, doc, but let’s say I did know that already.”

“You were clawed by one of those creepers in the tunnel. There was ninety-nine percent chance of infection.”

“And?!”

“From what I manage to discern from the documents I read, the shot I gave you is pure concentrated radiated magic. It’s an alchemical product of a new design. I’m not entirely sure how they managed to distill all the harmful elements out of it to give it its healing properties but there you have it. It retroactively healed all of your wounds.” Emerald explained.

“That’s bullshit!”

“That may be true too. I don’t know enough about the research data to clarify it. But the solution is called Healing Hypo Class Four an anti-infection label was printed under the text. I couldn’t allow you to be infected because of me, so I assumed it would heal you.”

Emerald could see that Ruby wasn’t happy with his explanation. It became even more apparent when she back handed him off the toilet. The slap was loud enough to stop the talking in the other room. Emerald reeled hard and fell to the floor clutching his cheek.

“Ruby!” Citrine yelled, wrapping her arms around the red kobold biceps.

“You think, you assume, you guess, that’s all it took for you to inject me with this fucking shit that you don’t even know what it does or what the side effects were?” Ruby screamed, pulling hard against Citrine.

Sapphire and Amethyst ran into the bathroom. Sapphire looked at Emerald balled up on the floor and turned to face Ruby. Amethyst crouched down and pulled Emerald close.

“What’s going on in here?” Sapphire shouted.

 “Lemme see.”

Emerald pulled his hand away; there was a cut on his cheek that oozed with a dull green blood. Sapphire looked down at Emerald and then back at the raving Ruby who Citrine was barely able to hold back.

“Look at you; you don’t even bleed like a kobold!” Ruby screamed angrily.

“That’s enough!” Sapphire snapped. “What the holy hell is going on in here?”

“Do you want to tell her or should I, four-eyes?”

Emerald got to his feet clutching the rag to his face. Tears welled in his eyes as he looked at the spiteful kobold. His body quivered hard enough to be noticed, his knees were weak. He had to lean on Amethyst to stay up.

“One of you have better tell me soon because we’re going to meet with Milton at any moment.” Sapphire looked back and forth between the two of them.

“The solution I gave her in the tunnels wasn’t exactly tested and I didn’t know everything about it?” Emerald’s voice fell away against the swelling lump in his throat.

“What?” Sapphire’s glare grew stronger on him.

“When I stole the case from Maestra, I stole everything inside. There were five vials of green liquid. Each labeled Healing Hypo and I assume the numbers are for the potency of the elixir.”

“So? They healed her?” Sapphire looked at Ruby.

“What needle-dick here isn’t telling you is the solution is radiated magic, like the shit from the blast zone. Distilled down or some bullshit.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Sapphire reeled back around. “What are the side-effects, what did you do to her?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know anything more than that! All I know is that she was infected because of me and I had to save her. I panicked; I didn’t know what else to do.” Emerald screamed back now.

The four other kobolds were taken back by his sudden ferocity. Once the echo of his voice died down, everyone remained quiet for a long time. Emerald suddenly slipped down to his knees on the floor, pushing his face into his hands. Tears started running down his face.

“I’m not even supposed to be here,” He cried. “All I wanted to do was help the others at the facility. I didn’t think about anything beyond that.”

“Then why did you leave?” Ruby’s voice was significantly calmer now.

“Because they were going to dissect me,” Emerald wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “I was to be used as an example of the strides the elves are making in this new experiment.”

“These strides, what are they?” Sapphire knelt down so she could be eye level with him.

“I don’t know. That’s why I stole the SD card.”

“Listen, Em, I need you to tell me everything you know. What did that solution do to Ruby?”

“It made her immune to creepers, I know that much.” Citrine added.

“Well, that explains why the fucking thing didn’t rip your mug off.” Sapphire pursed her lips.

“It cured all of my scars too.” Ruby’s voice spiked angrily.

“Well that’s good right?”

“No!” Ruby snapped.

Sapphire smirked cruelly. “Why? I wish someone could remove some of my scars. My ass looked like a roadmap.”

“Because one of those scars was all I had left to remind me of my Mika!” Ruby pressed a hand to her pelvis, her eyes growing misty. “But I don’t expect you to understand, Mrs. Secrets?”

Ruby stormed out of the room. The remaining four kobolds glanced back and forth at each other before looking after her. Citrine bottom lip trembled as she was physically conflicted as to what to do about this.

“I-I have to go. She needs me.” Citrine squirmed where she stood. “I’m sorry, Sappy.”

“No, it’s all good. I understand. Tell her I’m…you know.”

“I will.”

Citrine hurried out into the room just in time to catch Ruby while she was walking out the door with her boots in one hand. They stared at each other for a long moment. Citrine squirmed under the strong gaze of Ruby. They didn’t need to say anything; they’d been together so long that even the slightest shift in body language was a whole conversation. Ruby stepped out into the hallway and Citrine followed her, closing the door behind them.

“Well, that could have gone better.” Sapphire sighed and sat back on the cool floor.

Amethyst got the complimentary first aid kit from the wall. It wasn’t larger than a cellphone and only twice as thick. Still it had everything in it to clean up superficial wounds.

“Come on; let me get you patched up.”

“No need.” Emerald said sullenly.

He pulled the rag away from his cheek, the wound was gone already. Amethyst touched his cheek, the scales were lighter where the cut had been and it felt tender under her pressing.

“Holy shit!”

“It loses its luster after the dozen times they cut your arm off and have you hold it in place until the tissue grows back.”

“Gods.”

“I guess we’re all full of secrets.” Sapphire sighed softly and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Goddammit, I wish I would have turned you over when we had the chance-”

“How can you say that?” Amethyst snapped.

“Because he’s tearing our family apart,” Sapphire’s gaze was cold.

“It’s not too late.” Emerald looked at her. “You could say I put up more of a fight than you were expecting. It would be what I deserve.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“I can’t believe you’re entertaining this idea. What the fuck is wrong with you, Sappy? Let’s get the fuck out of here. All the greed in this place makes me sick.” Amethyst spat.

She took Emerald by the hand. The two kobolds walked into the other room with Sapphire following close behind.

“If you two leave, I’m going-”

“You’re going to what? Fire us from Mercka Squad? We joined of our own free will. We follow you blindly because all we wanted to do is belong with those of our own kind. That’s the real reason we listen to you, why we live with you, and why we let you handle all the money. We just like being with you.”

It was Amethyst’s turn to be cold for a change.

“Amy, I-”

“In the three years I’ve known you, you’ve never opened up about one fucking thing. I see you staring at those pictures on your shelf, I’ve even asked you about them and you avert your eyes, change the subject, all of it. We follow you to that human’s garage all the time and listen to you when you tell us to wait outside because we respect you and your privacy. You talk about us being a family, except it’s more like the three of us and our landlady.” Amethyst shook her head. “And now we have Emerald and you’re willing to hand him over those fucking butchers…now you’re just the…uhm…bitch landlady we live with.”

Sapphire snorted a laugh and raised a hand. “I’m sorry, we’re being serious. That was just funny.”

Sapphire’s laugh left Amethyst fighting off her own smile. She walked up and hugged her tightly and then pulled Emerald into the hug as well.

“I’m sorry, both of you; I’ve not been more open with you all. I truly am but I will be from now on.” Sapphire glanced from Amethyst to Emerald. “Let’s go get those two for this meeting and then afterwards, we’ll all sit down and talk it out, sound good?”

Amethyst smiled and nodded as they started for the door. When they opened it, a large shadow fell in on them. Grau was joined by two fully armored guards and they were brandishing fully automatic SMG’s. Sapphire was willing to bet that the safeties were off too.

“Milton’s ready to see you now.” Grau’s sultry voice rolled easily off his wide tongue.

“Let me grab my things.” Sapphire turned to grab her belt with her handguns on them.

“Your weapons are not permitted.” The large orc on the left barked.

Sapphire felt a prickle run up her spine at the words.

“Fair enough.” She said.

Sapphire pulled a small square device from her belt and tucked it in the pocket of her worn pajama pants. She passed a glance to Amethyst who gave a pointed nod and took Emerald’s hand. It was easy to tell by their aggressive demeanor that something was up. They were going to have to stay on their toes if they wanted to stay ahead of the shit storm blowing into town.


	11. The Meeting

Another door and another flight of stairs leading down to the darker depths of the apartment building high rise. Sapphire worried that if they went much lower; they’d just plunge out of the bottom of Milton’s Haven and fall into the trap filled catacombs that keep the creepers at bay. What made everything more unnerving was the guards and Grau still hadn’t said anything since they left the room. All they did was sandwich the three kobolds between the orc and the human guards, while Grau marched up front.

They rounded the last set of stairs in this stairwell, stopping at floor three. The large gnoll drew his gun before unlocking the door. When he went in, he trained his gun on the darkness. The orc guard went in behind him, giving him extra cover.

“Clear!” Grau called.

The human guard, at the back, nudged Amethyst with the butt of his submachine gun, snapping her forward.

“Easy, I’m going.”

“Shut it, lizard.” The human barked.

Grau poked his head back into the stairwell. “Show them respect lest I feed you to the creepers, do you understand me, cadet?”

“Yes sir!”

“Come!” Grau ordered before ducking back into the hallway.

Sapphire had been quiet for the entire trip down. She studied the twisting halls and darkened corners. None of it made sense. Finally, she felt in inclined to speak.

“Why are we down here?”

“I don’t really know.” Grau looked down at her. “Milton tells me very little about his reasoning behind things.”

“It just seems strange and a little dangerous.”

“Life is dangerous nowadays.” Grau pursed his lips.

“Hold up, this is bullshit!” Amethyst grumbled. “You’re essentially dragging us into the fucking basement. I’ve seen enough movies to know that if several armed soldiers are leading a group of people into the basement that it’s not going to end well.”

Grau halted and looked back at the purple kobold. “Maybe you’re right but like I said, I don’t know. My job is to guard my boss’ body and transfer his orders to the troops, beyond that; I’m as in the dark on this as you are. Now, let’s go.”

They walked another few minutes until the hallway in front of them was as dark as the hallway behind them. All of the doors on either side of the hallway were boarded up tight and the air was far staler that it had been in the stairwell. It was then that they came to a door that wasn’t boarded up but instead of a plain wooden door, this one was metal with reinforced hinges. A dim glow came from the half of inch space below the door.

“We’re here.” Grau opened the door and stepped inside.

The orc didn’t go in; instead he stood next to the door and watched as the three kobolds walked in. The room had once been an average small, one bedroom apartment. Some of the walls had been knocked down and remained in their plaster form waiting to be finished. The bathroom and kitchen were kept in their original condition to allow for entertainment purposes.

There was a large conference room table set in the center of the room with eight mismatched chairs, six on either side and one at the foot and the head of the table. Milton sat in the seat farthest from them. There were lamps stationed in the four corners of the main area, casting a dull amber glow around the room. The warm smell of sautéed beef, garlic, and peppers filled the room. Amethyst was the first to notice the three large platters lined up the center of the table. There was spiced beef and peppers on one side, sweet chicken and onions on the other, and a mountain of rice in the center. A stack of mismatched plates stood next to the bounty. There were several drinks chilling in a worn looking cooler pushed against the wall on the floor.

When they came in, Milton got up from his chair. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the three kobolds.

“There’s only three of them Grau, why is there only three of them?” He said smugly.

“That’s how many were in the room, when we arrived, Milt.”

“I was specifically clear! Bring all of them here, not just the ones in the room.”

Milton seemed unusually prickly over such a small problem. It caused Sapphire’s pulse to quicken. Milton cupped his eyes with one hand and sighed.

“Where are your friends?”

 “We don’t know, there was a little bit of a disagreement and they stormed off.”

“Well, I went to a lot of trouble to set this up, called off a lot of other plans. It’s rude that not everyone showed up.” Milton chuckled.

Even though his laugh, it was easy to tell he was on the edge of a break. He depressed the button on the receiver hooked to the strap of his girdle. “Officer fuck-face one and two, please go find K-03245 and 6 for me and don’t fuck this up!”

Sapphire tensed up at the sound of the serial numbers being called out. It was an incredibly rare thing to ever hear someone’s serial number in Milton’s Haven. The only two times Sapphire had ever heard them uttered in the past was when someone went missing and a search was called to find them or if someone was being arrested.

“Milton, what’s going on here?”

“Grau, restrain the green one, please.”

Grau wasted no time in grabbing Emerald with his great big hands. Sapphire punched the gnoll in the gut, hearing the sound of him heave in surprise at the punch. Amethyst grabbed a nearby chair and swung it as hard as she could at Grau but the sound of a gunshot and the splintering of one of the legs halted the attack.

The three kobolds and the gnoll turned to look at the goblin who was now toting a smoking pistol with his well-plucked eyebrows pinched in anger.

“Sit the fuck down or I’ll drill you both!” Milton snapped. “I’m trying to be civil so we can talk about something that might be mutually beneficial for all of us.”

The red glowing eye found Sapphire in the dim light of the room. It was reading her vitals and she hated that he had that ability. Quickly, he wagged the gun towards the closes chair and Sapphire had no choice but to do when he said. This was Milton’s place and right now he held all the cards.

Once the blue kobold sat down, Amethyst had no choice but to join her. Milton knew that the purple one lacked a backbone or the will to think for herself. The red kobold might have been an issue, even the yellow one was a little unhinged but the purple one was easily predictable.

“Good, now we can be civil.” Milton holstered his gun. “Help yourself to whatever refreshments you want.”

“No thanks, I just want to know what the fuck is going on.” Sapphire said.

She glared at him. Milton was glad she couldn’t shoot death rays from her eyes; else he would just be a greasy spot where he sat.

“Straight to business, no need to wait for your friends, huh I like it. Fuck it, they can catch up. It saves me time and money.” Milton took a bite of food and chewed noisily. “Your friend here, the green one, I’m not even sure he’s a kobold.”

Both Sapphire and Amethyst looked at each other and then up to the Emerald who still hung from the gnoll’s hand helplessly.

“I mean, he has all the physical traits of a kobold but he doesn’t bleed like one.” Milton took another bite of spicy beef. “That’s what piqued my interested about this little…science experiment, you call a friend. Armie at the processing office called me up and told me to take a look.”

“And what did you find?” Sapphire fished the small box from her pocket.

Milton got up from the table and came closer to where Sapphire and Amethyst were sitting with narrowed eyes.

“Green blood! Can you believe that shit?”

“So?” Amethyst snapped.

“So…” Milton snapped.

He drew his combat knife from the sheath on his back and poked Amethyst in the shoulder. She screamed, reaching up to grip her shoulder. Dark purple blood oozed from between her fingers.

“And just for good measure,”

He stabbed Sapphire in the bicep, though the blue kobold was ready for it and controlled any reaction that bubbled up to the surface.

“What fuck is the matter with you?” Amethyst snapped.

“Purple, you both bleed purple.”

Milton held the knife up to the light and turned it so they both could see it. Then he wiped the tip of his blade on his camouflaged pants. Amethyst grumbled and pressed a napkin to the wound.

“You could have just said that?”

“What, and have you waste my time with frivolous arguing? Nah, I just thought it would be more fun to show you.” Milton sat back down on his chair and started eating again.

“This is all really fascinating but science was never one of my stronger subjects in school.” Sapphire smirked.

“Obviously, because this here is biology we’re talking about. It’s the study of living matter. Your friend here, he’s something special.”

Through his obvious bravado, Sapphire slammed her fist down on the table causing the plates to rattle.

“Listen, I know you’re having fun with this and who am I to blame you but can we please cut the shit! What the fuck do you want, Milton? What the fuck could possibly lead you to act this way?”

“Right, this is business not pleasure. Your friend here pumps pure chlorophyll, the radiated kind that makes the Geiger counters go crazy but he’s not eradiated or harmful to be around.”

“So he’s full of plant goo?” Amethyst said.

She looked up at green kobold who turned away from her gaze, feeling a bit more like an unidentified creature.

“Sure is but there’s so much more. Grau, bring him here.” Milton ordered.

He reached down next to his chair and picked up a small clay pot, it was full of freshly tilled dirt, though Sapphire could tell by the green tint that it was from the radiation zone.

Milton slipped on a heavy duty glove and dipped his fingers into the pot. The dirt shifted and moved, making a green glow emanate from within.

“I put myself at great risk to gather this stuff. I took it straight from my backyard. This shit will corrode metal in ten seconds.” Milton said.

He dipped his fork in the dirt and counted loudly to ten before pulling it out. The once silver fork was now rusted and bent all to hell.

“See, the radiation in this dirt right here, is enough to pump me full of mutations in seconds, if I was so inclined as to dip my finger in it at all.”

“Maybe you can stick your dick-nose into it, might be an improvement.” Amethyst snickered.

Even Sapphire snorted a laugh, nearly dropping the small mechanical devise in her hand. Milton smirked and nodded patiently before bringing the back of his hand across Amethyst’s snout hard enough to knock her chair over, spilling her to the floor. Purple blood spattered the table and up Sapphire’s face.

“Amy!” Emerald cried out.

“Shut up, you.”

Milton didn’t spare a glance back at the green kobold; instead he glared at Amethyst who was struggling to regain her composure. She rolled over to sit on her rounded rump to look up at him.

“You think this is fucking joke? I’m trying to have a serious goddamn conversation.” His voice spiked.

“Milton-”

“Look!” He cut Sapphire’s words from her tongue with a sharp hiss.

Milton grabbed Emerald’s hand and hover it over the planting pot. He stabbed his knife all the way through. Emerald screamed and squirmed against the gnoll’s grip but couldn’t get away. Milton held the knife firmly, using it to funnel his green blood into the pot. As soon as the blood hit the dirt it changed to a healthy brown, the second drop sprouted grass; the more drops that fell plumed the bushel to a healthy height.

Sapphire gasped and back away from the table, so fast her chair clattered back on the floor. Her mouth hung open.

“What the fuck?”

“What’s happening?” Amethyst asked.

 “Goddamn magic, that’s what’s happening. We’re talking pure earth magic, just like the shit the fucking elves used to fuck up this world.” Milton chided.

“Gods above!” Sapphire panted.

“Doesn’t stop there, oh no.”

Amethyst gripped her face, blood poured from her nose as she fought to get to her feet. Before she could get fully stable, Milton grabbed one of the horns on the back of her head, holding her steady.

He pulled the knife free from Emerald’s hand with a cry and let the blood drip down the blade onto her snout. The blood ran along the smooth scales and into the shallow crest of her nostrils. Milton then jerked her head back to let the blood flow deeper into the narrow caverns.

Through the stinging moisture in her nose she smelled something that she’d never smelled before. It was sweet and flowery, like rose perfume or maybe something sweeter. The aching pain of her broken nose grew warm and faded away. She felt the bones painfully mending and healing. Then she could breathe again, better than she could before. The wound in her shoulder closed up and all the aches and pains that she’s gained over her life were gone within and instant. Even the cracked horn on the side of her head was suddenly mended.

“Sweet Morriander, am I right?” Milton laughed. “Here’s the best part.”

Emerald cried over his hand as he cradled it against his stomach. When Milton went for it, Emerald just let him take it for he was too weak to try and stop him. Milton held up his hand. They watched as the wound closed up as if nothing happened in the first place.

“This little fella, right here and that fucking data he stole. We could start harvesting blood from him little by little every day. We could create a garden just like back in the day. Think of all the money we could bring in. People would pay small fortunes just to walk on it. They’d pay even more for a drop of his blood so they could feel good again.” Milton sighed, his smile wider than his face could contain.

            Sapphire’s eyes glazed over as she thought about the possibilities. Amethyst gripped her arm and shook it sharply, fighting to bring her back. Whatever clutched her mind, held tight against her friend’s urgency?

Even Emerald wasn’t blind to the look in her eyes. He was already doomed to be returned to a different science facility but of another ilk. One that would keep him on a leash, force fed mountains of food to keep him fat and healthy. Then he’d be milk daily of whatever the goblin so desired.

            “Come on, Sappy. Think about it, you and Billy could leave that shithole town. I’d give you each an executive suite, salaries that would keep you fat and happy until the end of your days. Any male in my stable would be yours. Just give me the data and the kobold, we’ll sign the contract to happy lives and give hope to those who need it.”

Milton was close to her now. His breath unfurled like spicy fingers around Sapphire’s sensitive nostrils. Even if the smell was primarily spicy beef, there was something fetid that turned her nose and churned her stomach.

“A drug, money, is that all you want to use him for?” Sapphire looked at him, her gaze as cold as the color of her scales. “You narrow minded piece of shit! This is bigger than both of us; this is bigger than all of us.”

“Fuck, you’re right, Sappy. This is bigger than you.”

The shot rang out but only echoed in the distance of Sapphire’s mind. The burning fire in her gut drew her focus. The force behind it took her breath away. Her hand clutched the open wound as she started to feel faint and woozy but she barely held on.

Why did she? David was waiting for her, it would be so simple to just let go? What about the others? Her vision swam as she looked at Amethyst and then to green kobold in the clutches of the gnoll.

His mouth was open; he was screaming her name, even though she couldn’t hear him. Milton had tears in his eyes. The tears of regret for this terrible decision he’d made but then he turned the gun on Amethyst.

No!

Sapphire rolled her body between them. Purple blood rolled out from the corner of her mouth as she smiled. Held in her hand was the small silver device.

“Surprise, mother fucker!” She barked.

“A beeper?” Milton cocked his head.

“Not quite!”

Sapphire pushed the red button and there was a loud pop, though only Milton heard it. Milton loosed a garbling scream as a bright red light flashed behind his mechanical eye and it burned like blue fire in his head. He fumbled back against the wall, feeling his pistol jerked free from his hand but he couldn’t move his limbs to defend himself.

Then everything went black as the four lightbulbs popped at one. Grau released Emerald and stumbled around in the dark trying to help Milton. Then he heard the door creak open behind him and slam shut, leaving him along to tend to his master.

 ***

 “Fuck, Sappy!” She said.

Amethyst shouldered her as they made their way back down the hall; Emerald was in front with the pistol.

“Not now, we gotta get out of here.” Sapphire responded.

Bloodied drool ran down from the corner of her mouth and soaked into her shirt.

“Yes now or you’re going to die.” Amethyst’s voice was on the verge of panic.

Emerald slowed his pace and turned to look back at them.

“Hold this.” He ordered.

He handed the gun to Amethyst and pressed his forearm to Sapphire’s chest. He bit down on the fatty part of his hand hard with his rounded fangs. He winced as his teeth struggled through the softer scales there. He held his hand to her lips and she shook her head. She groaned painfully and looked deep in his eyes. There were oceans of wants and desires there. He could see them clear as day. It was beautiful and sad at the same time. Sapphire was dying and something told him that she wanted to. He hesitated for a moment and sighed.

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” He whispered warmly against the bridge of her snout.

“What?” Amethyst asked.

She turned to see Emerald sucking blood from his hand right before he pressed his lips firmly to Sapphire’s. Amethyst felt her heart clutch in her chest with so much force she fell back against the wall. She could hear the force behind Emerald spitting. When he pulled away, he grabbed her snout and covered her nostrils until he heard her swallow. The purple string of blood that ran from the corner of her mouth, now mingled with the green.

“She’ll be fine soon, let’s go.” Emerald said.

Emerald’s tone was sad as he struggled to shoulder the taller female. He was right, Sapphire was soon feeling well enough to move on her own which left him very frightened for his own safety of what she might do to him for directly disobeying her plea for death.


End file.
